China's Shift to Clean Energy Is Saving the Paris Climate Accord

Beijing’s massive manufacturing investments have driven the costs of clean energy down

A decade after the Paris climate accord was signed, political support for it is fraying across the West. President Trump has pulled the U.S. out again, and Europe and Canada are balking at the cost and political unpopularity of climate measures.

Yet the global shift to clean energy is barreling ahead—driven largely by China’s emergence as a clean-tech superpower. China’s massive manufacturing investments in the sector have sent the cost of clean energy plummeting, making it competitive with fossil fuels in many markets with few or no subsidies.

As governments gather in Belém, Brazil, for the annual United Nations climate conference, China sits at the center of the negotiations like never before. Beijing’s turn to clean energy is helping keep the Paris accord intact, despite developing nations’ frustration with Western backsliding on climate goals.

But China is also the largest emitter of greenhouse gases, and it has yet to begin cutting emissions—a big reason why global warming is on pace to crash through the temperature targets of the accord.

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