Show of strength: Workers installing photovoltaic panels at the Ningxia Tengger Desert New Energy Base in Zhongwei. China’s clout among other countries will likely grow because the volume of its clean tech exports will keep increasing. — AFP
NEW YORK: There’s a battle underway to win the energy export market between the world’s two largest economies: the United States wants the world to buy its fossil fuels, while China wants to sell the world its clean energy technologies.
For now, there is a clear winner: China.
The country’s exports of electric vehicles, solar panels, batteries and other carbon-cutting technology has been climbing for years. Exports hit a record in August, with US$20bil in products shipped globally, according to a new report from the think tank Ember.
“China reached a record value in cleantech exports even as technology prices have fallen sharply,” said Euan Graham, a data analyst for Ember.
The United States, which has positioned itself as a major fossil fuel exporter, sold US$80bil in oil and gas abroad through July, the last month with data available. China exported US$120bil in green technology over the same period.
That’s a continuation of a trend. The United States hit a record in oil exports in 2024, according to the Energy Information Administration. Yet, China’s clean technology exports were US$30bil higher.
Dollars only tell part of the story. The price of solar panels is falling, which means that China is exporting more of them per dollar earned. August’s solar export revenue was nowhere near the high set in March 2023, but the 46,000MW of power capacity shipped abroad set a record.
Crucially, China’s exports in emerging markets are growing rapidly. This year, more than half of China’s electric car exports have come from outside the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, a rich-country club.
The United States, under president Donald Trump’s first term and then former president Joe Biden, pushed for higher oil and gas production.
As a result, the country rapidly increased oil and gas exports. Trump is trying to drive production even higher in his second term by loosening regulations while also kneecapping the green technology sector.
It’s worth noting that China is a big importer of oil and gas, and it’s so energy hungry that it deploys most of the clean tech it manufactures.
This quarter, China will sell more electric cars domestically than all cars sold in the United States, regardless of fuel type. The United States, on the other hand, can meet all its fossil fuel needs.
Still, both countries have excess capacity in their areas of strength, which helps them generate billions of dollars in export revenue each year.
The United States may boost fossil fuel exports further and start to earn more revenue than China does from low-carbon goods that keep getting cheaper. However, China’s clout among other countries will likely grow because the volume of its clean tech exports will keep increasing.
“Clean energy exports is hardware, which once a country has bought it, will generate electricity for decades,” said Greg Jackson, the chief executive officer of Octopus Energy, the UK’s largest energy retailer. “Whereas with gas, the day you buy it, you use it, it’s gone forever.” — Bloomberg
