An interesting even-handed article.
In Beijing’s view, whoever builds the clean-energy economy will write the rules of the next world order — just as the United States once did through oil, arms and the dollar. Decarbonisation, by this logic, is statecraft, not climate stewardship. Domestically, it doubles as an insurance policy, securing water, food, and energy on China’s terms before scarcity and climate shocks arrive.
No, they are not ‘dwarfed’ by the equivalents for solar, because a pollution is a pollution. If you burn coal in your plant this hurts the environment, not matter how many solar cells you install on your house.
And it is true that Chinese cities are among the most polluted in the world. In 2024, China ranked 21 (of 138 countries) in the list of the most polluted countries.
Well, we will agree to disagree on the directionality aspect of all this. But that was otherwise an unexpectedly civil exchange, with data cited and no inane downvoting or insults. So others can make up their own minds. Good day to you.