China's clean technology exports this year will cut carbon emissions outside its borders by an amount equivalent to Brazil's annual emissions from consuming fossil fuels, according to an analysis by the Finland-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), reported by Reuters on Thursday, October 29, ahead of next month's COP31 climate summit.

Source: Reuters

China's exports of solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles and batteries will help the world avoid 450 million metric tons of planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions, the analysis found. Yaani, the avoided emissions are equal to about 2% of the world's annual emissions outside China, which dominates clean energy supply chains from electric vehicles to lithium batteries.

The impact is growing fast: the avoided emissions are up from 370 million tons of CO2 last year — itself more than the United Kingdom emitted from fossil fuel consumption. The bulk of the avoided emissions came from countries in the Global South, which have increased imports from China and are cleaning up fossil-heavy power grids, the analysis found. Many are in sunny regions with rich potential for solar power, by far the biggest source of avoided emissions among China's exports.

The climate savings also outweighed the carbon dioxide emitted in manufacturing the solar panels, turbines and other equipment, the report said, estimating it took around six months for clean tech imports to 'pay back' the manufacturing emissions.

China is the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide overall, but the United States is the biggest per capita emitter and also the biggest historical producer of greenhouse gases. Brazil is a top-10 emitter. The findings land as governments prepare for COP31, where China's dominance of clean-energy supply chains — and the emissions its exports help others avoid — will be part of the argument over who is doing how much to slow warming.