China has rapidly emerged as a global leader in clean technology, driving significant progress in renewable energy and sustainability. The country has made remarkable achievements in green and low-carbon transformation, guided by its “dual carbon” goal of peaking carbon emissions by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060. Supported by comprehensive policies, China’s green energy sector—including wind, solar, and hydropower energy—has experienced rapid growth. China’s large-scale investments and industrial capacity have helped drive down costs for renewable energy technologies, making them more accessible worldwide.
The UK has made significant progress in green energy development. Its leadership in offshore wind technology, green finance, and policy framework aligns well with China’s expertise in large-scale manufacturing, supply chain efficiency, and infrastructure development. The British companies and Chinese companies have significant opportunities for collaboration and leverage their complementary strengths to drive innovation and sustainability in green energy development. This collaboration can help accelerate the transition to clean energy while reducing costs and enhancing the efficiency of the UK’s renewable energy expansion.
1. Key Policies and Measures
China has implemented a series of policies to accelerate the transition to a green, low-carbon economy. Recent key policies include:
The “Opinions on Accelerating the Comprehensive Green Transformation of Economic and Social Development” introduced in 2024 prioritizes reducing emissions across key sectors such as energy, industry, and transportation. The 2025 Action Guide places carbon peaking and neutrality at the heart of its objectives. It also expands subsidies for replacing fuel-powered vehicles, old household appliances, and supports the renewal of agricultural machinery, new energy buses, and power batteries.
The “2024–2025 Action Plan for Energy Conservation and Carbon Reduction” targets energy-intensive sectors such as industry, construction, and transportation, seeking to transition from controlling energy consumption to regulating carbon emissions, while promoting energy-saving technologies and phasing out outdated production capacities. The Chinese government is also fostering green technology companies and collaborative innovation, with initiatives like the Kubuqi Desert Photovoltaic Base, the optimisation of microgrids, and advancements in energy storage systems. Additionally, China is enhancing coal power efficiency and accelerating the construction of ultra-high voltage (UHV) transmission grids.
These policies highlight China’s ongoing and substantial support for the development of green energy, particularly in renewable energy technologies, energy storage, and sustainable infrastructure, creating a robust foundation for the growth of the green energy sector.
2. Market data in the Chinese Clean Energy Sector
In 2024, clean-energy investment in China reached 6.8 trillion yuan ($940 billion), with a 7% annual growth. This investment was close to the global total spent on fossil fuels. The “new three” sectors—electric vehicles (EVs), batteries, and solar—dominated, contributing three-quarters of the value added and attracting over half of the investment.
Clean-energy sectors overall contributed 13.6 trillion yuan ($1.9 trillion), accounting for more than 10% of China’s total GDP ( Carbon Brief Analysis ). These sectors grew three times faster than the overall economy, representing 26% of total GDP growth.
In 2024, the combined value of production and investments in clean-energy sectors grew by approximately 13%, reflecting a 50% increase since 2022 ( Carbon Brief Analysis). The production of goods and services within these sectors rose by 21%. The electric vehicle sector was the most valuable, followed by clean power generation, rail transport, electricity transmission and storage, and energy efficiency.
2.1 Low-Carbon Technology Market Development
China’s low-carbon technology market covers renewable energy, energy storage, carbon capture and storage (CCUS) and other fields. In 2024, the total output value of the national green and low-carbon industry was more than 11 trillion yuan, and the number of related enterprises exceeded 2 million, among which lithium batteries and photovoltaic products had outstanding competitive advantages.
Key areas of progress include the expansion of solar and wind power capacity, which have seen substantial year-on-year increases of 45.2% and 18.0%, respectively. Additionally, improvements in grid flexibility, cross-provincial power allocation, and pumped storage are enhancing the stability and efficiency of renewable energy integration. In 2024, the national flexible regulation of coal-fired power exceeded 600 million kilowatts, the cross-provincial power allocation capacity exceeded 300 million kilowatts, and pumped storage has reached 55.91 million kilowatts.
The rise of electric vehicles (EVs) and smart travel technologies, led by companies like BYD, is further driving the transition toward sustainable energy. These advancements indicate that China is making significant strides toward a greener economy, with increasing reliance on low-carbon solutions.
2.2 Renewable Energy Growth and Future Goals
By 2027, China aims to cultivate 3–5 leading energy storage enterprises, each exceeding 100 billion yuan in output, while enhancing the safety, efficiency, and lifespan of storage technologies. In 2024, China’s new energy storage capacity reached 73.76 million kilowatts, up 130% year-on-year, with North, Northwest, and East China leading in deployment.
To support large-scale renewable integration, the government plans to optimize power regulation from 2025 to 2027, targeting an annual 200-million-kilowatt grid connection and maintaining a 90% new energy utilization rate.
Although renewable energy is developing rapidly, its share is still far behind that of traditional energy. At present, China’s power structure is still dominated by fossil fuel power generation, accounting for about 62%, of which coal-fired power generation is close to 59%, while low-carbon energy power generation accounts for about 38%, mainly composed of hydropower (14%), wind power (10%), solar energy (7%) and nuclear power (4%). To further increase the proportion of clean electricity, China will further accelerate the development of renewable energy.
3. Expert Insights and UK’s Green Energy Targets
Dr Chong Ng, Associate Director at the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult, emphasised in a recent talk with Crayfish.io that the UK plays a key role as a major green energy market, particularly in wind energy. The UK government set a target of 50 GW of offshore wind by 2030, including 5 GW of floating offshore wind. The Labour Party has proposed to further increase the 2030 target.
However, the current installed capacity highlights a significant gap, requiring urgent action and welcoming new market players to meet these ambitious targets.
As the global economy shifts toward digitalisation and AI development, data centres must scale rapidly to manage the exponential growth in data, leading to a surge in electricity demand. Achieving net-zero emissions requires green electricity generation, making energy transition a shared priority for both China and the UK.
The UK aims to achieve the goal of net zero emissions by 2050 and reduce carbon emissions as much as possible by 2030. However, achieving this goal necessitates a robust, green electricity grid. The UK has an urgent need for energy storage solutions, modernized grid infrastructure, and sustainable technologies.
Ng believes this is a ‘once-in-a-lifetime opportunity’ for players from other countries, including Chinese companies, to join the action. The cake is huge, he said.
4. Potential Collaboration Opportunities between the UK and China
China’s advancements in green technology have had a profound global impact, significantly lowering the cost of renewable energy and making sustainable solutions more accessible worldwide. China’s active participation in global climate initiatives is evident in its discussions with Europe and the UK on forming a climate alliance. Such cooperation aims to establish an independent framework for achieving climate goals, potentially reshaping the global energy transition landscape. This highlights the strategic role of China’s clean technology innovation in addressing climate change on an international scale.
4.1 Recent Collaborations Between UK and China
In recent years, the UK and China have strengthened their collaboration in green and clean technology across multiple sectors.
Chinese companies like Mingyang Smart Energy are exploring opportunities to establish manufacturing plants in Scotland to supply critical components, such as wind turbine blades and submarine cables, for large-scale offshore wind projects in the North Sea. The UK aims to expand its offshore wind capacity from 14 GW to over 50 GW by 2030. However, challenges remain, including infrastructure bottlenecks and grid development delays, which need to be addressed to maximize efficiency.
In 2024, the China-UK Clean Energy Cooperation Forum was held in Manchester, expanding discussions beyond hydrogen energy to include offshore wind power, green hydrogen, energy storage, and smart grids. The forum resulted in key agreements, laying the foundation for future collaborative projects. Later that year, Zhang Jianhua, Director of China’s National Energy Administration, held a video meeting with David Miliband, the UK’s Minister of Energy Security and Net Zero. Their discussions covered policy frameworks, grid upgrades, large-scale energy storage, and hydrogen development, providing crucial support for upcoming initiatives.
Both governments are actively promoting green finance as a tool to drive clean technology transformation. The recently established China-UK Green Finance Center is facilitating investments in renewable energy projects through mechanisms such as green bonds. Additionally, the 2017 China-UK Memorandum of Understanding laid the groundwork for ongoing cooperation in renewable energy, environmental technology, and sustainable urban infrastructure, fostering joint research and technological advancements in areas like solar energy and smart cities.
4.2 Further Potential Collaborations between China and the UK
Collaboration between Chinese and British companies in the green energy sector is crucial to meeting the UK’s ambitious clean energy goals, particularly in offshore wind and energy storage. As Dr Chong Ng pointed out, the UK’s role as a major green energy market is evident, with ambitious targets for offshore wind capacity by 2030.
However, the gap between current installed capacity and future targets requires immediate action and the involvement of new market players, including Chinese companies, which can provide valuable technological and manufacturing support.
The urgent need for energy storage solutions and modernised grid infrastructure in the UK and China presents an opportunity for collaboration that could benefit both nations. With the global economy moving towards smarter, more sustainable solutions, the shared goal of achieving net-zero emissions and transitioning to clean energy makes China-UK cooperation essential for accelerating progress in green energy.
Entering the Chinese market or collaborating with Chinese companies requires thorough market research, regulatory compliance, and strong local partnerships. For UK companies, it is essential to choose the right business model, navigate cultural differences, manage legal and financial risks, build relationships and understand logistics, supply chains, and government incentives.
The collaboration between China and the UK in the green energy sector presents a significant opportunity to accelerate the transition to sustainable energy in both countries and worldwide. Combining China’s manufacturing might with the UK’s innovation and policy expertise can create powerful synergies, drive innovation, reduce costs, and achieve their ambitious climate goals.