China is Dominating a Very Real Clean Tech Transition

[A couple of recent posts on the clean energy transition.]

A shocking chart

This chart from Bloomberg is unreal.

Calling China’s lead in clean tech “dominant” is a vast understatement.

They also control 2/3 of the rare earth mining and virtually all of the processing.

Clean tech is one of two grand transitions this century and it’s a market worth many trillions.

And America? Trying really hard to go backwards.

(original article with this chart)

The Clean Energy Transition is Not a Fantasy

There’s an important conversation going on about growth (and ‘de-growth’) A core part is questioning whether ANY growth story, particularly the ‘green transition,’ is a fantasy. A recent post on LinkedIn was a great example of this argument. He showed total energy use by source over decades and made the case that old fossil techs are not really replaced, but we just add on more sources. The logic was only a consumption and de-growth conversation would be productive.

Like most complex issues, it’s not black and white. Multiple things can be true at once.

First, of course we need a deep discussion about consumption and what well-being means, especially among the 1-2 billion richest of us who drive most resource use (directly and thru suppliers like China). As my co-author and I write in Net Positive, billions still need more material use and wealth. To make that possible, Gandhi said it best: “The rich must live simply so the poor can simply live”.

At the same time, the story that clean energy growth is not helping (but just piling on top of fossil growth), misses what’s really happening. Yes, total energy use has indeed risen as population and the economy have grown dramatically, and coal doubled from 1980 to 2010. But, we’re in the early stages of a grand tech transition like we’ve never seen.

Coal use has slowed dramatically. In electricity — the only part of energy where renewables, until recently, can replace fossils — the shift is clear. Since 2010, fossil power in OECD countries is DOWN 18%, while solar and wind combined are up 600%. Globally, fossils in electricity grew just 1.3% annually over 15 years, versus 17.7% annually for solar and wind.

This isn’t just “new energy layered on top of old.” We’re seeing real displacement. It’s now accelerating in electricity globally and will soon in transportation. Renewables have their footprint issues (a big understatement I know), but they are far better for the climate as part of deep systems change.

(As a proof point, new data shows the global emissions growth slowed dramatically over the last decade).

Bottom line: multiple realities can co-exist. We need a consumption rethink, AND the clean energy transition is very real.

[Note, all these data points I’ve provided are my own calculations from the global and regional energy data here. It comes from the Statistical Review of World Energy (2025) — formerly branded/owned by BP]