Browse
Log in / Register
Share
BANGKOK — A report released Thursday, May 7, 2026, by the Finland-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) finds China’s record shipments of clean-energy hardware will avoid roughly 450 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year once that equipment is installed and operating. That annual saving is nearly as large as Brazil’s total emissions.
The assessment lands just months before the next round of U.N. climate talks in Turkey, where electrification of transport, industry and power grids is expected to take center stage. It also arrives against a backdrop of war-related energy shocks that have made renewable technology a matter of energy security as much as climate policy.
“This is a pivot point for the outlook of global energy and global emissions,” said Lauri Myllyvirta, an analyst at CREA. “We’re seeing growth in clean energy that is much, much faster than anyone predicted just a few years ago.”
China is by far the largest supplier of renewable-energy equipment in the world. Most of the solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles and batteries it manufactures are sold domestically, but the share exported overseas has grown large enough to shape emission trends far beyond China’s borders.
CREA’s tracking shows electric-vehicle exports rose 61% year on year, wind-turbine shipments gained 45%, battery exports climbed 39%, and overseas sales of solar equipment grew 22%. The dollar value of Chinese EV exports reached $72.8 billion, up from $39.7 billion in the comparable period a year earlier, according to the research firm Atlas Public Policy.
Southeast Asia has emerged as a key destination. Clean-energy shipments from China to the region jumped nearly 160% year on year, according to the global energy think tank Ember. Disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz — the narrow waterway that carries about a fifth of the world’s oil and gas — hit import-dependent Asian economies hardest, and renewable alternatives have become a more attractive option almost overnight.
If current export momentum holds, CREA estimates that the lifetime climate benefit of all clean technology China exports this year could reach 8.4 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide. That is roughly 24% of annual global emissions and more than the combined yearly emissions of the United States and India.
The calculation is designed as a net figure, not just a shipment total. CREA combines export data with the carbon intensity of power grids in destination countries and subtracts the emissions produced during manufacturing in China. That means the savings are counted after accounting for the coal and electricity used to make the equipment, rather than before.
Independent experts said the estimate is broadly consistent with the scale of China’s clean-energy shipments, though they could not independently verify the numbers.
The export boom is reaching the United States as well. Despite the higher tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump, Chinese clean-tech sales to the U.S. rose 13% in the measured period. “The demand is much stronger than I expected,” Myllyvirta said. “That’s certainly noteworthy.”
China remains a study in contradictions. It is the largest provider of clean-energy technology and, at the same time, the largest single source of global carbon emissions. Muyi Yang, a senior policy analyst at Ember, compared China’s energy transition to replacing the engine of a ship while it is still at sea.
In Southeast Asia, the crisis has accelerated practical choices. Consumers face higher electricity and fuel prices, and many are turning to rooftop solar and electric vehicles as cheaper alternatives. Laos, Thailand and Vietnam have introduced incentives for solar installation and EV purchases, while the Philippines has implemented similar policies and became the second-largest destination for Chinese solar exports. Indonesia has pledged to install 100 gigawatts of solar power by 2029.
The shift appears likely to outlast the immediate conflict. Yu Sun Chin of the research group Zero Carbon Analytics said the region is undergoing a structural change, not a temporary response to price spikes.
“The surge in clean energy policies in Southeast Asia shows there is a paradigm shift happening,” Chin said. “Considering Southeast Asia is one of the most vulnerable regions to climate impacts, every emission cut matters in limiting a rise in global temperatures.”
The findings reinforce a broader trend: solar and wind are now the cheapest source of new electricity in most markets. The appetite for Chinese-made technology is therefore unlikely to fade when war-driven price shocks ease. The main risk is not demand but whether power grids, permitting systems and energy storage can catch up with the record wave of equipment now crossing borders.
