this post was submitted on 04 Feb 2025
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[–] the_swagmaster@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Can't read but will comment on the title.

The idea would be very cool but I don't know how serious China is on cutting down their emissions (especially at the expense of their exports being more expensive).

Just the EU and UK could feaisbly do it but it seems politicians are starting to push back against green policies since there is a belief they will hinder rather than help growth. Whether that is true or not is up for debate but I think it would be a missed opportunity for the EU/UK to miss out on another technological advancement that might pay dividends in the future. For example, figuring out how to use Hydrogen as a replacement for LNG could then be exported all over the world. Might bean renewables could have their excess energy stored efficiently.

[–] eigenspace@feddit.org 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

China is pretty serious about getting their renewables going, mostly for energy independance reasons. I think they can be convinced to cooperate with future climate goals if enough care is taken.

Of course, if they don't cooperate, then yes, we need to move along without them.

[–] the_swagmaster@lemmy.zip 3 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

Fair enough, it would be good for their energy independence but not sure they would want to stick to a timeline. Even if they did, not sure they would agree to an enforcement mechanism given they see themselves as a superpower (which they are) and wouldn’t want to be told what to do by the EU (not really a superpower even if on paper it could be) if any targets slipped.

Even so, I hope they can come to a deal. It would help both sides I think even if working with the Chinese will be a tricky business given their less than stellar human rights practices

[–] Saleh@feddit.org 2 points 13 hours ago

China is also starting to see adverse effects from climate change and they identified renewable energies as key technologies of the 21. century. I think China will be interested in telling other countries to shift to renewables, while also selling them the technologies for it.

So China does have an interest to further these topics together with the EU. And building international structures that exclude the US is increasing Chinese soft power, where the US is dismantling its own soft power from the inside.

[–] badbytes@lemmy.world -4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

One of those countries is not like the others, and name rhymes with Dhina. They are increasingly building coal energy plants.

[–] Teppichbrand@feddit.org 8 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (1 children)

While it is true that China builds coal plants, they invest way more green energy. So please stop the disinformation.

Bonus question:
How much of the global energy production build in 2023 was renewable?

It was 90%! With more than 40% of all power already coming from zero emission sources.!<

[–] x00z@lemmy.world 0 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

How is it disinformation?

Having a lot of green energy means nothing if you are still building coal plants each week.

Meanwhile the rest of the world is not building them anymore and even closing them.

[–] Teppichbrand@feddit.org 2 points 15 hours ago (2 children)
[–] federalreverse@feddit.org 1 points 7 hours ago

China's energy use is still rising. In terms of g CO2e/kWh, yes, they're transitioning rapidly. But in terms of total CO2e emitted, China's footprint is still expanding its footprint unless there's an economic crisis (like the recent excess housing/tofu dreg crisis).

Part of the reason for that is that China's primary motivation for their use of wind/solar/batteries is economics, rather than the prevention of climate change or biodiversity loss.

In the late 2000's, Chinese leadership realized that wind/solar/battery technologies could be viable worldwide, and that they could be optimized heavily. They also knew that, besides oil/gas imports being costly, they probably couldn't ever import enough oil/gas to bring the Chinese average lifestyle up to the standard envisioned in their plan. And of course, they had massive smog problems—one important point was that during the 2008 Olympics, the government had many factories and coal plants turned off, to avoid national embarrassment over the level of smog in Beijing. So they heavily invested in this stuff, Chinese companies became market leaders, yada.