China is installing about as many solar panels and wind turbines as the rest of the world combined, and is on track to meet its target for clean energy six years early.
It is using renewables to meet nearly all of the growth in its electricity needs.
Yet there is another side to that rapid expansion, one that is causing consternation in Washington at a critical period of climate diplomacy: China is also building new power plants that burn coal, the dirtiest of the fossil fuels, at a pace that dwarfs the rest of the world.
China accounts for a third of the world’s energy-related greenhouse gas emissions — more than North America, Central America, South America, Europe and Africa combined.
President Barack Obama and Xi Jinping, China’s leader, began a joint push for climate action a decade ago at Sunnylands.
Persons:
John Kerry, Biden’s, Xie Zhenhua, Barack Obama, Xi
Locations:
China, Washington, North America, Central America, South America, Europe, Africa, Southern California