The Coal Paradox: Inside China’s Contradictory Energy Future

China is leading the world in solar, wind, EVs, battery storage, and clean-tech manufacturing. It is also adding coal capacity at a massive scale. How does that even work?

In this episode of European Guanxi, Audrey Berder speaks with Belinda Schäpe from CREA about the real forces shaping China's energy transition; a story far more complex than conventional analysis suggests.

Some key points of often omitted in this story:

🏭 Provincial governments and state-owned enterprises pursuing overlapping policy objectives

📊 How emissions have actually started leveling off despite coal expansion

💰 Clean energy becoming a genuine economic growth driver, not just policy implementation

🚗 The explosive rise of EVs and electric trucks reshaping industrial capacity

🔌 Battery storage solving flexibility challenges the grid desperately needs

But here is what matters most: understanding China's transition means recognising the interplay of tensions and opportunities shaping energy markets globally.

The implications extend across trade, industrial competitiveness, Belt and Road, green exports, and carbon markets. Europe must engage thoughtfully with China's transition, considering both competitive and cooperative dimensions.

This is the China energy analysis the moment demands.