New from us: India's power sector emissions fell for only the 2nd time in half a century, due to both economic and weather factors and record clean energy growth. The current drop is unlikely to be sustained but clean energy projects in the pipeline can peak power sector emissions well before 2030.

China is expected to announce its new NDC by September 24, two sources told Reuters. #ParisAgreement #2035 www.reuters.com/sustainabili...

Growth in solar and wind power generation continued to exceed the growth in power demand in China in August. Nevertheless, another bad month for hydropower generation (-17 TWh YoY) enabled power generation from coal&gas to inch up 2% (10 TWh).

Look how wrong the IEA's been on solar in the past. Trump admin: not wrong enough. They pushed the IEA to bring back the scenario that pretends the solar, wind&EV booms will end next year. Only the consequences for commodity markets and global emissions will be much bigger...

Results from China’s first wind & solar auctions under the new pricing policy are out — starting with Shandong. Clearing prices for solar came in at very low levels that would largely make new solar projects unprofitable, but this isn't the showstopper it sounds like.

Our guide to reading China's upcoming climate targets once they come out. See the thread below for the details and full article 👇

Where is China in the energy transition? In our latest episode of Solving for Climate we chat with @laurimyllyvirta.bsky.social about all things China and climate. Listen here: open.spotify.com/episode/1FFO...

Breaking: The value of China’s exports of clean energy technologies hit a new all-time record in July, passing the previous high from March 2023. China exported $18.4 bln worth of solar and wind power equipment, EVs and batteries during the month.

New research from our China team and @GlobalEnergyMon shows that even as permitting of new coal plants has moderated in China, announcements of new projects - that will seek permits soon - are running hot.

@laurimyllyvirta.bsky.social: "China's total power demand was up 9% year-on-year in July, compared with 4% in Jan-Jun and around 5% projected for the whole year. That explains the jump in coal&gas-fired power generation in July as I expected."

I've told people for years that the data center and AI electricity demand scare is dramatically overdone. Here's some data from Google: The median Gemini Apps text prompt uses 0.24 Wh of energy, emits 0.03 grams CO2, and consumes 0.26 ml (or about five drops) of water...

Finnish energy humor. News story: Google data center waste heat to provide heating for almost entire town of Hamina (pop 19,500) Me Googling in the middle of the night: "Since there's a game called backgammon, is there also frontgammon" A shivering Hamina resident: Thank you

I want energy to be clean and abundant. I get people who just want it to be abundant. I really don't get people who want it to be dirty and scarce. No better way to hurt investment of all kinds than this.

NEW from me: Clean energy growth helped China’s CO2 emissions fall 1% year-on-year in the first half of 2025, extending a declining trend that started in March 2024. Power sector CO2 fell 3% as growth in solar power alone matched the rise in electricity demand.

🇨🇳 📰 NEW | Analysis: Record solar growth keeps China’s CO2 falling in H1 2025 🌿 ☀️ CO2 output of the nation’s power sector fell by 3% in H1 2025 as growth in solar power alone matched the rise in electricity demand @laurimyllyvirta.bsky.social w/ @carbonbrief.org www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-rec...

Predictably, the record-hot, dry July pushed China's power demand up sharply and resulted in a jump in power generation from coal and gas, which was up 4% from July last year. Hydropower generation fell 10%. Year-to-date, power generation from coal and gas is down 1.3%.

NEW from us: Last year, China started construction on an estimated 95 gigawatts (GW) of new coal power capacity, enough to power the entire UK twice over. We explain why China's still building new coal power plants, and when and how it might stop and begin phasing out.

China Electricity Council downgraded their power demand growth forecast for the year and increased projected solar power capacity additions to ~310 GW, after their previous forecast of ~210 GW was already hit in H1. Numbers align closely with mine and imply a likely fall in power sector emissions.

Explaining once again how to make sense of China's power generation data: -National Bureau of Statistics reports power generation from "above-scale" firms by technology. This is quite comprehensive for thermal, hydro and nuclear, but substantially under-reports wind and is next to useless for solar.

Important data drop that I've been waiting for on China's massive solar installations in H1: 🌞 solar power capacity additions doubled year-on-year to 212 gigawatts, with total capacity at the end of H1 increasing a whopping 54% year on year

So this is what the EU and China were able to agree on climate. Nothing groundbreaking but some positive elements. Promising to align new 2035 emission targets with the 1.5/well below 2 degree temperature goal is good.

Shifting to recycled steel production is one of the two biggest emission reduction opportunities in China over the next decade, as shown by our analysis. There has been no progress on this front despite government targets, as the sector has lacked meaningful incentives.

New from me: How China's clean energy manufacturing boom is helping reduce CO2 emissions overseas. In 2024, China’s exports of solar panels, batteries and electric vehicles are shaved 1% off global emissions outside of China.

Power generation from coal and gas was flat year-on-year in China in the second quarter, falling in April and inching up 1% in both May and June. Crude steel output fell no less than -9% and cement output by 5% - these are the two highest-emitting industrial sectors.

China is requiring for the 1st time that steel&cement plants buy renewable electricity. Along with the increased minimum percentage of renewables for distribution firms, this boosts demand just as new solar&wind projects have to secure contracts directly with buyers. www.linkedin.com/pulse/analys...

Jaw-dropping: while most everyone has been projecting a slowdown in China's wind&solar deployment, the State Grid Energy Research Institute expects 380 GW solar and 140 GW wind added to the grid this year.

China's clean power growth is stunning, but in relation to the size of the power market, China is not such a singular success story. 15 countries achieved a larger increase in clean power generation in the past five years than China, when measured as a share of their total power generation in 2019.

Quote from a former senior official at one of China's big 5 power firms: Companies are building coal power due to central government pressure. There's little enthusiasm to invest, and the target for expanding coal power capacity in this five-year plan likely won't be met.

U.S. policymakers hitting levels of self-own that shouldn't be possible.

There have been online mentions of a major new Chinese policy document called "Opinions on promoting green and low-carbon transformation and strengthening the construction of the national carbon market关于推进绿色低碳转型加强全国碳市场建设的意见". It isn't public yet but has been circulated to local governments and SoEs.

We knew China's rush to install solar and wind was going to be wild but WOW😮. The solar panels & wind turbines China installed in May alone, in a single month, will generarate as much electricity as: -Poland -Sweden -Norway -the UAE -North Carolina&Maryland or -Washington&Wyoming

New from us: the economic benefits of strong emissions and clean energy targets for China. China's clean energy industries could double in value by 2035, adding $2.1 trn to the economy, with ambitious domestic targets and continued acceleration of the global energy transition.

Great chart from the @iea.org: EVs and excellent rail transportation are bringing about the peak and decline of oil product consumption in China. If anything, I think this is too conservative on the electrification of heavy duty vehicles (diesel) where there's a lot of headroom.

Spanish government report on the causes of the unprecedented blackout of the Iberian peninsula points to failure of thermal power plants to respond as required, and a possible planning failure by the grid operator, as the causes. elpais.com/economia/202...

Power generation from solar, wind and nuclear power continued to grow faster than China's power demand in May. However, coal and gas-fired power generation increased 1% as hydropower generation fell sharply, by 14% year on year.

Our assessment of Indonesia's new power supply plan (RUPTL): a big step backwards compared with the coal phase-down plan published two years ago and even a step back compared with the previous power supply plan from 2021.

📺WATCH: ASPI's China Climate Hub hosts a discussion exploring China's #climate path amid trade tensions and global expectations. Featuring @katelogan.bsky.social, @laurimyllyvirta.bsky.social, and Anders Hove, with @lishuoclimate.bsky.social moderating the discussion.

The fall in China's coal imports accelerated in May, to 18% while imports year to date are down 8%.

It's been obvious for a few years that going all out on both clean energy & coal power would lead to a glut. The timing is problematic as new solar&wind projects have just been told to secure market contracts instead of being guaranteed the benchmark price for coal. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

A Chinese former vice finance minister talked about "early" peaking of carbon emissions, citing my work. It's a positive signal that this kind of messaging is being introduced. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

New research from us @creacleanair.bsky.social quantifying the historical and ongoing impact of pollutant emissions cheating by diesel vehicle manufacturers. While emission norms are now enforced better on new vehicles, a lot of existing ones remain on the road, causing excess pollution.

A bad drought and heatwaves could potentially see China's CO2 emissions briefly top the early 2024 peak this summer. Would this affect the assessment of China's progress in peaking CO2? No. What matters is the structural trend, not year-to-year variations in weather.

Indonesia's state power firm PLN hates solar power precisely for this reason and has prevented net metering. But yes, now that solar+battery without net metering starts to be competitive against retail electricity prices, solar can take off without their permission.

Indonesia's long-awaited power development plan (RUPTL) for 2025-34 is out. Compared with earlier plans, it increases targets for solar, although from an extremely low base, as well as targets for storage, coal and gas.

China's solar power rush accelerates before the June deadline when prices paid to new installations change: a whopping 45 GW installed in one month, more than the total solar capacity of Australia or Spain.

If you still think that solar cannot deliver at a scale that can power the modern society globally, this is a good moment to update your priors. Solar is now adding power generation faster than nuclear power did in its heyday, showing the power of modular technology and mass production.

China's power generation from coal and gas fell 2% on year in April, despite a 7% drop in hydropower generation. Growth in solar, wind and nuclear power more than covered the growth in power demand and the drop in hydro.

Update on the Spanish blackout: Reuters reports that the government investigation is looking at excessive voltage (rather than a drop in frequency as a lit of people initially speculated) as the potential cause.

NEW from me: China's CO2 emissions fell ~1.6% in the first quarter and have now been flat or down for more than a year. This is the first time on record that emissions are falling due to clean energy growth, not slow power demand.

NEW – Analysis: Clean energy just put China’s CO2 emissions into reverse for first time | @laurimyllyvirta.bsky.social Read here: buff.ly/6eAcjRU