China Moves Into Global New Energy Leadership

China smashes solar energy records, as coal use and CO2 emissions fall once again; With millions of jobs up for grabs, China seizes clean tech leadership from U.S.

Joe Romm, February 28, 2017 (ThinkProgress)

“We are witnessing a historic passing of the baton of global leadership on technology and climate from the United States to China…[The Trump administration has turned U.S. attention back toward the Old Energy that causes climate change but] China is slashing coal use and betting heavily on clean energy, which is clearly going to be the biggest new source of permanent high-wage jobs in the coming years…

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Beijing plans to invest a stunning $360 billion by 2020 in renewable generation alone…[which is expected to add more than 13 million jobs.] In 2016, Chinese coal consumption fell for the third consecutive year…and [China] installed almost twice as many solar panels as it had in 2015…Beijing projects both trends will continue in 2017…China’s solar installation target for 2020 is likely to be achieved in 2018…All of these policies have helped make China a new global leader in climate action, as their own CO2 emissions have plateaued and declined since 2013…” click here for more

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