China’s surge in renewables and whole economy electrification is rapidly reshaping energy choices for the rest of the world, creating the conditions for a decline in global fossil fuel use. Launched via a video presentation in early September, Ember’s 2025 Energy Transition Review is Ember’s first comprehensive review of China’s clean energy progress and its implications for the rest of the world.

Amongst the highlights from the executive summary, China’s adoption of renewable energy continues to accelerate with wind and solar electricity generation rising in 2024 by 25% compared with the previous year.

In the first half of 2025 it was 27% higher than in H1 2024 – enough, alongside other trends, to cut fossil fuel generation by 2% compared with H1 2024. In the 12 months to June 2025, wind and solar (2,073 TWh) generated more electricity than all other clean sources (nuclear, hydro and bioenergy) combined (1,936 TWh). Just four years ago, wind and solar generated half as much electricity as other clean sources combined.

The renewables transformation is underpinned by world-leading investment in clean energy, energy storage and transmission grids. China is the biggest investor in clean energy worldwide, spending $625 billion USD in 2024 – 31% of the global total of $2,033bn. The volume of installed battery storage tripled in the three years to 2024. Grid investment rose toan all-time high in 2024 of 608 billion RMB ($85bn USD), up by 25% from 486 billion RMB($68bn) in 2019.

Beyond electricity, the transition is reshaping end-use sectors. Electricity is comfortably the biggest energy source in buildings, and in 2023 overtook coal to become the biggest energy source for industry. Oil-derived fuels still dominate in transport, but China’s rapidly expanding electric vehicle fleet is progressively gaining ground. The share of electricity in final energy demand across the wider economy continues to grow, reaching 32% in 2023, out-pacing many mature economies.

The clean energy transition is alleviating China’s dependence on imported fossil fuels,reducing energy costs, stimulating growth and jobs and creating export markets. In 2024, investment and production in clean energy contributed 13.6 trillion RMB ($1.9 trillion) to the national economy – a sum equivalent to about one-tenth of China’s GDP, or the total GDP of Australia – and the sector is growing three times faster than the Chinese economy overall.

Amidst all this progress, the depth of buy-in within business as reflected in research, development and innovation is notable. Chinese companies now account for about 75% of global patent applications in clean energy technology, up from just 5% in 2000.

The report includes an extensive discussions on the implications of the Chinese energy transition in the rest of the world and on policy priorities for the future.

Learn more.