China is indeed churning out solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles and batteries that flood global markets — proof, advocates say, of an inevitable green transition.

Yet these supposed marvels are forged amid overwhelming and surging use of fossil fuels, particularly coal.

Its real energy achievements — dramatic energy ramp-ups to fuel prosperity, and advances in nuclear power — remain overlooked. //

Crucially, China’s solar-panel production depends on coal: Every one of its silicon smelters requires its own coal-fired power station. //

While China added unprecedented solar and wind capacity in 2025, it also planned an unprecedented number of new coal power plants.

China remains the world’s top coal consumer, with fossil fuels supplying over 87% of its primary energy.

Renewables’ share was 40% in 1971 when China was poor, but plummeted to 7.5% in 2011 — and has risen slowly over the next 13 years, to just over 10% in 2024. //

Second, China is surging ahead in technologies that could truly decarbonize the planet at scale: nuclear fission and fusion.

In the West, traditional nuclear has grown prohibitively expensive, with US construction costs tripling since the mid-1980s.

The US has built only three new nuclear plants this century, at enormous cost and with 11-year timelines.

Contrast this with China, where reactors are completed in five years and costs have halved since 2000.

China has expanded from three reactors in 2000 to 60 today, with 37 under construction (nearly half the global total), 42 planned and 146 proposed. //

This isn’t renewables redux; it’s a race for abundant energy.

And the West risks awakening to a world powered by Beijing’s reactors, not its own ingenuity.

Green China is a sham — but it’s time for the West to emulate Beijing’s real playbook, by ramping up energy use and investing in nuclear R&D.