China's clean tech exports offset emissions exceeding UK's annual output

China's exports of clean energy technologies last year avoided carbon dioxide emissions larger than Britain's entire annual output, according to new analysis that underscores the global climate impact of the country's green manufacturing expansion.

Shipments of solar panels, wind turbines, batteries and electric vehicles prevented 374 million metric tons of CO2 emissions in 2024, the analysis by Lauri Myllyvirta, co-founder of the Helsinki-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, found.

Over their operating lifetimes, the clean technologies exported this year are expected to avoid 6,900 MtCO2 — a 31% increase over 2024 and roughly twice India's emissions last year.

China occupies a dual position in the global climate picture: it is the world's largest carbon emitter and simultaneously its dominant producer and exporter of the technologies needed to cut emissions. Mass production at low cost has reshaped the economics of electrification and decarbonisation, particularly across developing countries.

Nearly one-third of the avoided emissions came from solar exports to South Asia, where Pakistan is experiencing a solar boom that has given it one of the world's highest shares of solar power generation.

"Current growth of solar and EVs, particularly in emerging countries, was not on anyone's radar five years ago before China's cleantech manufacturing boom," Myllyvirta said. "Just as the manufacturing boom led to increased supply and falling prices, the world experienced two fossil fuel price shocks in the past five years, giving adoption a further push."

Chinese customs data put the value of clean technology exports at $194 billion last year. Shipments had already reached $128 billion by June this year.

Even so, the emissions avoided by these exports remain modest relative to global carbon emissions, which stood at about 39 billion tons in 2024, according to data compiled by Our World in Data.