How China’s clean-tech machine is reshaping the global climate fight

An employee checks newly-assembled electric cars to be exported to South America at an electric vehicle factory in Zouping county, Shandong province, China, on Sept. 24, 2013. | REUTERS

Reuters

Nov 8, 2026

BEIJING/WASHINGTON/LONDON – China sent $132 billion in clean technology and investment to the developing world last year, by far the largest contribution to carbon-dioxide reduction of any country.

In fact, the nation’s green-manufacturing juggernaut, built in part through heavy subsidies from Beijing, nearly matches the current total of grants, loans and private finance that all wealthy countries sent to poorer ones in 2024 to help fight climate change, according to analysis.

Those loans and grants stemmed from a climate-finance program the world’s wealthiest nations agreed to at a 2009 United Nations climate conference on the premise that industrialized nations made outsized contributions to the climate crisis — and had outsized means to help poorer countries pay to clean it up.

In a time of both misinformation and too much information,
quality journalism is more crucial than ever.
By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.

SUBSCRIBE NOW