CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

China’s Coal, U.S. CO2 Stoke Global Warming

Image by Getty and Unsplash .

Global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil fuels and industry totaled 38.11 billion metric tons (GtCO₂) in 2025, hitting a record high, versus 25.51 GtCO2 in 2000. Moreover, the rate of global warming more than doubled for the first time in human history, in only one decade. Scientists are stunned: The Rate of Global Warming has Accelerated More in the Past Decade Than Ever Before, LiveScience, d/d March 7, 2026. According to NASA, 97% of publishing scientists in the world agree that excessive CO2 emissions cause excessive global warming as well as aberrant climate change.

Following a surge in permitting and construction, more than 50 large coal-fired power plants were commissioned in China last year. Source: CREA / Global Energy Monitor. Yale Environment 360 /

China loves coal, but it still should be awarded a gold medal for renewable installations in 2025. No other country came close to installation of 300 gigawatts of solar and 100 gigawatts of wind power in 2025. These installations set a record. Paradoxically, China also wins a tarnished medal for biggest emitter of greenhouse gases at roughly 32% of the world total. If this seems contradictory, yes, it is. But it takes a lot of energy for 1.4B people. After all, the scorecard shows China consumed 40% more coal in 2025 than the rest of the world combined.

China also installed more solar and wind power in 2025 than the rest of the world combined. It is the first country to exceed 1,000 GW of solar capacity. China’s investments in clean energy exceed the combined efforts of the U.S., EU, and UK. Another 300 GW of wind and solar is currently under construction. China’s total clean energy investment in 2025 was $630B.

Still, “Xi Jinping’s promise to reduce China’s carbon intensity by 65 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030 is severely off track. Planners could have compensated with renewed ambition in the 15th Five-Year Plan. Instead, they changed the way they calculate energy intensity, perhaps to disguise the failure to meet Xi’s target, and set a looser ambition for the next five years.” (Isabel Hilton, As It Boosts Renewables, China Still Can’t........

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