The United Nations’ annual climate conference, COP30, began on Monday in Brazil, marked by the notable absence of the United States. In an unprecedented political move, Washington sent no high-level representation to the conference, which is considered the largest and most important international event of its kind. The absence comes after the Trump administration’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement. And as the world’s largest economy pulls back from decarbonization and clean-energy initiatives, the rest of the world continues advancing at a rapid pace.
Many experts believe that the U.S. shift away from expanding clean-energy projects opens the door for competitors—chief among them China.
Although Chinese President Xi Jinping will not attend COP30, China’s presence and influence will be strong. A report by Semafor stated that “the summit will highlight the scale of progress China’s clean-tech industry has made in Latin America,” adding that “Brazil has chosen Chinese electric vehicles to transport participants, signaling that the world is moving forward even without American political and technological leadership.”
This assessment appears accurate. Globally, the world continues to achieve historic gains in deploying renewable energy and expanding electrification efforts, as renewables this year surpassed coal as the largest source of electricity generation worldwide in a historic milestone. China alone has added 300 gigawatts of solar and wind capacity since the start of the year—nearly five times the United Kingdom’s entire renewable capacity.
And it is not limited to China, Europe, and wealthy nations. A growing number of developing countries—across South America, Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East—are now among the fastest-growing adopters of clean energy.
This is driven by the changing economics of renewables, especially the falling cost and large-scale availability of solar technologies. Thanks to a flood of cheap Chinese-made solar panels and wind-turbine components, countries like Brazil, Chile, El Salvador, Morocco, Kenya, and Namibia have surpassed the United States in their clean-energy trajectories. According to Yale Environment 360 estimates, about 63% of emerging-market energy systems in Africa, Asia, and Latin America rely on solar power for electricity generation to a greater extent than the United States.
CNN notes that “some countries are undergoing rapid and striking energy transitions, adding solar power at a pace that has made it a major source of electricity within just a few years—not decades.” A standout example is Pakistan, which has become “one of the largest new adopters of solar energy” in an exceptionally short period.
Jan Rosenow, head of the energy program at Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute, told NPR this year: “We have never seen solar deployed at this scale and within such a short timeframe anywhere in the world.”
This massive shift would not have been possible without the steep decline in wind and solar technology costs—and that decline would not have occurred without China’s large-scale manufacturing. Lars Nitter Havro, head of macro energy research at Rystad Energy, told CNN: “The world is now reaping the benefits of this expansion, enabling emerging economies to seize the opportunity and leap into the new energy era.”
China’s large-scale and cost-effective clean-energy manufacturing has strengthened its near-total dominance over global clean-energy supply chains and expanded its influence in emerging economies worldwide. It also remains the single factor keeping decarbonization achievable for many countries after other transition-finance plans—including unfulfilled climate-finance pledges—failed to deliver.
