China has some coal reserves but overall they're a major net fossil fuel importer. They're quite short of crude oil and natural gas reserves relative to demand. This is a serious national security risk which is why they've been rapidly electrifying their economy and building solar, nuclear, and hydro power plants (along with coal fired power plants).

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EA-3167 4 hours ago | parent [-]

They’ve been building out every form of power generation they can. Nuclear, solar, wind and fossil. It’s all skyrocketing.

The talking point that they’re going green doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.

https://www.globalelectricity.org/china-electricity-producti...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_sector_in_China

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bryanlarsen 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

That link is out of date. China's coal share fell under 50% this year (your link says 58%), and their CO2 emissions dropped 1% the first half of 2026.

So yes, it can be reasonably claimed that China is greening. "greening", not "green" -- 49.7% coal is still a lot of CO2.

https://finance.yahoo.com/energy/articles/china-pushes-coal-...

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ericmay 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Maybe emissions fell because industrial activity fell instead? Maybe oil and gas have been used less because the cost has risen. Maybe that explains coal as well depending on how it is used. I’m speculating coal might be used in the production of steel - what if that product is highly tariffed in the US and EU so China had to cut back?

China is “greening” but we should be skeptical that it’s out of some lofty moral goal. If it was they wouldn’t be hoarding the production of rare earth minerals and would be freely giving away technology for the sake of the planet.

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triceratops an hour ago | parent | next [-]

> China is “greening” but we should be skeptical that it’s out of some lofty moral goal

Why does the "why" matter? Tons of carbon are tons of carbon, right? That's what people say when you tell them about per-capita emissions.

> they wouldn’t be hoarding the production of rare earth minerals and would be freely giving away technology for the sake of the planet.

You can freely buy as many cheap panels and batteries and EVs and heat pumps from China as you like (unless your country is stupid enough to tariff or ban them). Those come with minerals. When they reach end-of-life they can be recycled.

What exactly are they "hoarding" that the planet needs to go green? It hasn't prevented Pakistan or Vietnam from going ham on PV deployment.

	▲	ericmay 13 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		> Why does the "why" matter? Well it doesn’t entirely matter but we should just acknowledge that it’s a geopolitical strategy and not really something they are doing for the planet. > You can freely buy as many cheap panels and batteries and EVs and heat pumps from China as you like (unless your country is stupid enough to tariff or ban them). Those come with minerals. When they reach end-of-life they can be recycled. What exactly are they "hoarding" that the planet needs to go green? It hasn't prevented Pakistan or Vietnam from going ham on PV deployment. Are you unfamiliar with China’s restrictions on rare earth exports for example due to alleged “dual use” as they continue to apply military pressure on democratic Taiwan? I’d encourage you to read up on these restrictions with respect to Japan for example who is alarmed by Chinese and North Korean provocations. You can buy so many cheap panels practically only from China because they subsidized the industry so other countries couldn’t compete and build their own solar panels. Har har tariffs and bans are responses to these anti-competitive strategies. It’s not just the US, by the way. The EU is tariffing China too. They are entitled to pursue these strategies but we are also entitled in the west to recognize them and combat them how we see fit.

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2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

[deleted]

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EA-3167 an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

Oh you're correct, the same thing is happening in India without any of the nonsense fanfare.

https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-coal-power-drops-in-chi...

https://www.carbonbrief.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/span-...

You can see the same dips hit at the same time for the same reason.

In terms of Chinese coal though there's a reason boosters always talk about percentages and not absolute number... one goes down, but the other keeps rising. Even if China continues on the current course in terms of tonnage burned they won't reach "peak coal" until at least 2030.

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rgmerk 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

To add to this, China’s overall greenhouse gas emissions have been flat or declining for a couple of years now: https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-chinas-co2-emissions-ha...

	▲	EA-3167 an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Your own link says the following: > After the first three quarters of the year, China’s CO2 emissions in 2025 are now finely balanced between a small fall or rise, depending on what happens in the last quarter. And then goes on to describe how the largest drop (3%) is happening at a time when it just happens that fuel is increasingly expensive and scarce, shipping is increasingly expensive and slow, and the global economy has spent months grinding increasingly towards a terrible outcome. People might as well brag about their incredible weight loss journey through amputation.

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triceratops an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Fossil is flat or declining. Everything else is skyrocketing.

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nradov 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I never claimed that China is "going green" (whatever that means), merely that they're gradually reducing their dependence on imported fossil fuels.

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XorNot 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

China can be going green while also refusing to constrain it's economic growth on the short term.

When you actually build things, throwing up a coal plant for 10 years because you need it while you grow your solar and battery industries or wait for reactors to cover your base load is just sensible.

All narratives about China always have this static world baked into them: "they're currently like this, and that's all they'll ever be". But China develops fast. Shenzhen was a farming village by a ditch. 10 years ago buying a Chinese car was inconceivable - I took delivery on one yesterday, etc.

At some point in the very near future China is going to hit a cross over point on their emissions and they'll start falling fast because reactors + renewables will be building out fast enough they'll want the coal plants gone - no one likes ruling over a polluted wasteland.

Edit: it can also be the case that they don't care at all about going green...but renewable energy technology is the most sovereign possible energy security. No one can take away your access to the sun.