China, the world’s biggest carbon producer, is fast positioning itself as a green superpower even as the Trump administration backs away from US climate goals, the BBC reports.
In the deserts of Inner Mongolia, huge solar farms now stretch across the golden dunes, turning one of the harshest landscapes into a clean energy hub. Rows of aluminum-framed solar panels capture the intense desert sun as projects in the Kubuqi Desert transformed more than 4,600 hectares of land, restoring vegetation and offering hope to local farmers.
The US is backing away from its green energy commitments
Meanwhile, in Washington, the Trump administration recently revoked a key scientific decision underpinning federal measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, signaling a retreat from green energy commitments.
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How is China leading the renewables revolution?
For decades, thousands of farmers in these parts have watched their pastures shrink as vegetation thins, topsoil blows away and soil loses its life to overgrazing and rising temperatures.
But with recent changes planned by Beijing, some of these farmers are now welcoming it.
In the Kubuqi Desert, over 46,000 hectares of the land have been transformed over the past decade with solar arrays that include horse-shaped panels as a symbolic tribute to the speed and power of the technological transformation underway.
The report, citing scientists, suggests that solar panels act as shade and windbreaks, helping to protect grass and restore soil. While this won’t stop the desert, it seems to have a modest impact that farmers welcome and give them hope.
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According to Xin Guiyi, a farmer who has lived there all his life, “Wind and solar energy are abundant in Inner Mongolia. We can contribute to our country.” While the sentiment may not be shared everywhere, Beijing’s determination to turn China into a global renewable energy powerhouse is increasingly visible across its vast terrain.
Renewable nodes expand in China
In Gansu and Xinjiang, the once peaceful hills and wide plains have been transformed into sprawling centers of wind and solar energy. Rows of gleaming solar panels stretch beneath towering wind turbines, collectively producing enough electricity to power millions of homes.
The country is now building an unrivaled green energy network. It comes after Chinese President Xi Jinping told the UN in 2020 that Beijing would aim to achieve maximum emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060, a goal that now appears within reach. Citing analysts at Carbon Brief, the report added that CO2 emissions have either remained flat or have been falling for nearly two years.
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China is growing in solar capacity
In 2010, China operated only a small number of large solar farms that produced about 1 gigawatt of power, an amount sufficient to power roughly 100,000 homes, depending on estimates. It generated less electricity from the sun than six countries, including Germany, Spain, the United States, Japan, Italy and South Korea.
China began building rapidly, and by 2018 the country had more than 7,000 of these solar farms with a total capacity of 111 GW, which was three times the amount needed to power the UK. However, over the past eight years, the country has moved towards building ultra-large renewable projects, with individual solar farms now exceeding 1 GW (1,000 megawatts) in capacity.
China has launched a solar thermal power plant in the Gobi desert
As early as October 2025, the South China Morning Post reported that China had launched a new solar thermal plant in the Gobi desert, marking the country’s first deployment of this particular configuration of technology. According to the report, the project is being promoted as a more economical and efficient model that could be expanded in the future.
The facility in Guazhou County, developed by China Three Gorges Corporation, features a two-tower design connected to a single turbine system. Around 27,000 mirrors were set up across the site to direct sunlight onto two towers, each about 200 meters high and about a kilometer apart. Concentrated solar energy generates intense heat that is used to melt and store the molten salt at temperatures reaching approximately 570 °C (1,058 °F). This stored thermal energy is later converted into steam that drives turbines, allowing the plant to continue generating electricity after sunset or during periods of low solar radiation.