A Big Payoff From US-China Climate Coordination

Global Voices

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By Jiang Lin, Adjunct Professor at Dept of Agricultural & Resources Economics at University of California, Berkeley: Although the United States and China have both begun to make significant strides toward carbon-free electricity generation.

China could pivot from coal to clean energy even faster, especially if it is willing to work with the US on cleaning up the electricity sector. New research from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Energy Innovation, and the University of California, Berkeley, shows that China could reach 80% carbon-free electricity as early as 2035 without increasing costs or sacrificing reliability. Though China is already on pace to exceed its goal of 1,200 gigawatts of wind and solar by 2030, it could add much more by leveraging its unparalleled renewable-resource endowment and world-leading cleantech supply chain.