China has always been subject to much ridicule on many social aspects, the environment being one of them. The olympics in Beijing only highlighted the problems China faced. Fortunately for the government international scrutiny has a short attention span. Unfortunately for the its citizen their lives and health continue to deteriorate from all the pollution. Don’t think for one second that this only affects China. Much of its pollution extends into neighboring countries and even across the Pacific Ocean onto the western seaboard of Canada and the US. Luckily the future calls for clear skies.

Like a country hoping to win a war China is aggressively utilizing its financial might to development its renewable energy sector. Even more impressive is that fact that China is out spending the US juggernaut. The figures don’t get much better for the US either. In 2013 alone the Chinese installed 14 gigawatts from wind farms and 12 gigawatts from solar whereas the US installed less than 1 gigawatt in wind farms and 4.3 gigawatts in solar, which was already a record year. As the saying goes action speak louder than words. Therefore the actions of the Chinese government underlines the importance of the matter is to the central government. Obama might sound good explaining his vision of building a green energy supply but China is showing what it takes. Of course these figures only tell part of the story. The US likely still pollutes less than China and China likely will still heavily depend on their coal power plants to meet demand. The underlying theme however is the importance of sustainable energy in the future.

The global outlook for renewable energy is bright. Even as global investment has declined from its peak in 2011 at $318 billion the countries that pollute the most continue to be heavily invested in renewable energy. Not only will these development help wean us off fossil fuels but also maintain the viability of the industry. As economies of scale continue to grow development of renewable energy should roll out even faster while being cheaper. Whether or not the overall impact can tame global warming remains to be seen. Time is of the absolute essence and it would seem like we are running out of time.

Sources:

World’s Most Polluting Country Leads in Clean Energy Investment