Zero: The Climate Race How China’s engineering mindset won the clean-tech race
Dec 4, 2025
In this discussion, Dan Wang, a technology analyst and author of *Breakneck*, explores how China's engineering mindset has propelled its success in climate technologies. He contrasts this with the US's lawyerly approach, highlighting how political and cultural factors have stifled American innovation. Wang discusses the rapid electrification in China driven by energy sovereignty, suggests areas where the US can improve in clean tech, and touches on the implications of AI in this global race. He advocates for a shift towards an engineering-focused approach in America to enhance infrastructure and manufacturing.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Engineering-As-National Strategy
- China builds at scale because its state treats the physical world as an engineering problem to be solved.
- That engineering mindset drives massive construction of solar, wind, batteries, EVs and infrastructure.
Obstructionism Slows U.S. Building
- The U.S. has become 'lawyerly' and excels at obstruction, which slows major projects like housing, transmission, and nuclear.
- That cultural shift explains why the US now lags in building large-scale clean infrastructure.
1960s Turning Point In U.S. Policy
- Dan Wang recounts the U.S. shift in the 1960s from technocratic building to legal and regulatory backlash after projects like Robert Moses' urban overreach.
- That historical turn made American elites wary of large-scale engineering projects and boosted litigation and regulation.
