

What do China’s climate commitments mean for energy?
11 snips Sep 26, 2025
Joining the discussion are David Sandalow, an expert on China's energy policy from Columbia University, and Joseph Webster, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council focused on China's energy system and geopolitics. They dive into the significance of China's upcoming climate commitments and its rapid clean energy deployment, including an impressive 217 gigawatts of solar capacity added in 2023. The conversation touches on the implications for global energy markets, AI advancements, and how China's strategic investments could reshape technology and military capabilities.
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China's Extraordinary Solar Buildout
- China added >200 GW of new solar in each of the past three years, outpacing total US historical additions in single years.
- That scale gives China a structural advantage in rapid clean power deployment and manufacturing scale.
Siting Data Centers To Match Clean Power
- China is shifting data centers toward western regions with cleaner power under an 'Eastern Data Western Compute' plan.
- That policy links AI growth to renewables and eases coal-dependence for compute loads over time.
Dual-Use Payoff Of Clean Technologies
- Clean-energy technologies like batteries and solar yield civilian and military advantages.
- Advanced batteries improve drones, submarines, and unmanned systems, amplifying strategic value.