China is outpacing other advanced economies in the addition of renewable energy systems, and is “winning the clean energy race,” according to Axios, but the reality of the situation is more complex, climate experts explain.  

“What race? The notion of ‘a race’ is a rhetorical tool used to evoke emotion and feelings of competition when no such race actually exists,” Jack Spencer, a senior research fellow for energy and environmental policy at The Heritage Foundation, told The Daily Signal.  

“The real issue, and the only one that U.S. policymakers should care about, is whether American families and businesses have access to affordable, reliable energy,” Spencer said, adding that the U.S. is “failing,” in this regard.  

“But we are failing not because we haven’t built enough wind and solar, but because politicians and special interests have forced us to spend scarce resources on so-called green energy when we should have been investing in reliable energy like natural gas, coal, and nuclear.” 

Citing data from the McKinsey Global Institute, Axios reports that while the U.S., EU, and other “advanced economies” have slowed their share of â€œglobal solar and wind generation capacity additions” in the past several years, China has grown its significantly. 

From 2022 to 2025, China increased its share of wind and solar generation capacity by about 30%, while the U.S. and nations with robust economies saw a decline.  

“China is one of the few countries on the planet that can add significant renewable energy systems to its grid without compromising the grid integrity or incurring brownouts and blackouts,” Gregory Wrightstone, executive director of Co2 Coalition, told The Daily Signal. The reason China is capabile of this, according to Wrightstone, “is because their additions of electricity power generation from fossil fuel powered plants (coal and natural gas) are outpacing the renewable additions.” In other words, while China is expanding wind and solar energy system, it is also increasing use of fossil fuels.  

In February, Reuters reported that China began construction on over 94 gigawatts of coal-fired power in 2024, making it the largest year for such new construction projects in China since 2015.  

China is the largest emitter of greenhouse gasses in the world and has pledged to control its emissions, but power shortage concerns have spurred new construction of coal-fired power.  

“These thermal energy sources supply reliable abundant electricity that back up the intermittent energy from wind and solar that only produce energy when the wind blows and the sun shines,” Wrightstone said.  

“The Western world has been decreasing its reliance on dependable coal and natural gas and turning more toward the renewables, and the result has been skyrocketing electricity prices and grid instability,” he added. “Every gigawatt of renewables needs to be backed up by a similar amount of reliable thermal power generation.”  

Electricity costs have increased across all sectors over the past decade, according to the Energy Information Administration, rising from $10.41 in 2015 to $13.66 today. 

If the U.S. wants to gain ground in energy production in comparison to China, it should focus on nuclear power, according to Spencer.  

“There are around 60 power reactors being built today, and China is building half of them. They are building them faster and cheaper than any Western nation,” the Heritage expert said.  

“If the U.S. doesn’t get its act together,” Spencer warns “China and Russia will be the global suppliers of commercial nuclear energy, and this will undoubtedly result in geopolitical advantage for those nations.”  

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