China moves fast towards renewable energy

Addressing a Beijing Energy Week event at the Yale Centre Beijing in July, Harsh Poddar, an Indian energy analyst, said the world was quickly moving towards renewable energy, taking note of the development both in China and India. [Photo: Chinaplus/Yin Xiuqi]

China, the world's most populous nation, is intensifying its efforts to switch to clean power. 

Although the country still largely depends on coal for its energy needs, the government is making massive investment in solar, wind, hydro and other kinds of renewable energy production.

According to a government plan released in December 2016, China will spend almost 400 billion US dollars on renewable power generation by the end of 2020.

By then, the government intends to make renewable power make up 27 percent of the country’s total power generation. 

One estimate has put the country first in terms of renewable energy consumption, surpassing the United States, which is poised to revive the coal industry under the Trump administration. 

[The audio clip is from Horizons, a revamped daily features program produced by CRI that gets to the heart of Chinese society, life and economy. To know more about this program, you can download the China Plus App on your mobile phone.]