China's cleantech exports hit $140bn as clean power meets

China's clean energy technology exports reached $140 billion in the first half of 2026, accounting for 6.6% of the country's total exports, according to a new report from energy think tank Ember. This surge comes as China's power demand grew by 5% last year, with all new demand met by clean power sources, slightly pushing down thermal generation even as total consumption hit a record 10.4 trillion kilowatt-hours.

Ember's report states that China's cleantech exports are now approaching the scale of its traditional major exports like garments and furniture. The 6.6% export share marks a sharp rise from just 2.7% in 2020. Analysts have long predicted China's massive manufacturing buildout would outpace domestic demand, transforming clean technology into a dominant global export engine.

China now holds enormous influence over global cleantech markets, even as it remains home to the world's largest coal fleet and is the largest crude oil importer. Ember senior analyst Muyi Yang said national aggregates aren't particularly useful for understanding the market change in such a complex economy. A province-level view, however, shows China's energy transition has reached a turning point from simply adding clean power to actually displacing fossil fuels structurally.

Sub-national energy shifts

Across 17 of the 26 regions Ember tracks in China, coal generation has slowed, flattened, or entered an active downturn. These provinces account for over half of China's total national thermal power capacity. Major industrial hubs are included in this shift; Shandong province, a key manufacturing region with several major ports, has seen coal generation decrease by 10% since 2021.

A parallel shift is visible in industrial fuel consumption. Many of China's 'light manufacturing' industries, like textiles and transport equipment, hit peak fossil fuel use years ago. Consumption is now flattening even in hard-to-abate heavy industries like metals smelting and processing. These sub-national shifts indicate China is moving beyond its 'building before breaking' industrial policy, which focused on scaling the clean energy system before displacing the legacy fossil fleet to maintain rapid industrial growth.

Yang explained the economy is entering a new phase of 'building while breaking.' Inside China, this will require policy changes to manage declining run-hours for legacy coal plants and cushion the economic fallout for coal-dependent regions.

Global supply chain evolution

Outside China, the focus is shifting from securing volatile oil imports to deploying physical energy hardware domestically. This trend is likely permanent. Importing countries are not only buying final products like solar panels; they are increasingly investing further up the supply chain, using Chinese upstream components and raw materials to build their own domestic industrial bases. Yang pointed to Southeast Asia, where economies are advancing from simple panel assembly into solar cell and silicon fabrication.

There is a debate in those countries about whether increasing cleantech imports from China will create a new form of dependency. "But clean manufacturing sectors are gradually spreading into those economies, helping them use domestic advantages, climb the value chain, and build their own long-term industrial ecosystems," Yang added.

The widening competitive gap

U.S. Tariffs appear to have redirected China's cleantech exports into the global south rather than stunting their expansion. China's solar imports to Sub-Saharan Africa grew by 37% year-over-year. Brazil imported enough Chinese electric vehicles to drive a 300% surge in registrations. Pakistan imported over 50 gigawatts of Chinese solar modules to hedge against volatile fossil fuel import costs.

Meanwhile, 2025 was the first year of net negative clean energy investment in the U.S. Since at least 2012, with a $22 billion drop from 2024. As Latitude Intelligence analyst Nick Zenkin wrote, the 'ping pong' of American federal policy has chilled long-term manufacturing investments and created chronic regulatory uncertainty.

It is not clear the U.S. Is actively trying to challenge China's energy dominance despite protectionist policies. Instead of China's approach of adding new sources before phasing out old ones, the U.S. Is removing certain forms of generation and replacing them with fossil fuels. Blocking large-scale wind and solar projects, imposing tariffs, and doubling down on oil and LNG exports are positioning the U.S. As a commodity supplier rather than a technological competitor.