China leads a green new era

by HAOYU ZHANG
Special Correspondent
BEIJING, (CAJ News) — ONCE known for its vast coal seams and the prosperity built upon them, the northern city of Ordos is now redefining its identity as a model of China’s green transformation.

What was once a symbol of “black gold” is becoming a proving ground for the country’s most ambitious low-carbon innovation.

At the center of this transformation is a cutting-edge zero-carbon industrial park, where solar arrays and wind turbines feed an intelligent power system that runs factories producing hydrogen equipment, photovoltaic modules, and advanced batteries.

Operating on nearly 90 percent renewable electricity while recycling wastewater at scale, the park demonstrates that sustainability is not a constraint—but a catalyst—for economic vitality.

In the past year alone, output from new-energy equipment manufacturing more than doubled, surpassing 20 billion yuan.

This success embodies President Xi Jinping’s call for resource-dependent regions to reinvent themselves by upgrading traditional industries and accelerating green development.

During an inspection tour of Inner Mongolia in 2023, Xi urged the region to “promote the transformation and upgrading of traditional energy sectors while vigorously developing green energy,” a message that has since guided Ordos’ reinvention.

China’s vision extends far beyond one city. The country plans to build around 100 national-level zero-carbon industrial parks between 2026 and 2030, a cornerstone of a nationwide effort to advance what Xi has called “a broad and profound systemic socio-economic transformation.”

As the world experiences record-high global temperatures, the urgency of this transformation has become impossible to ignore.

“Green transformation is not only the essential way to address climate change, but also a new engine for economic and social development,” Xi has stressed.

Under his leadership, China has elevated climate action to the centre of national governance, balancing rapid economic expansion with unprecedented investment in clean energy.

China’s commitment carries global significance.

As the planet’s largest developing country and a major energy consumer, China’s pledge to peak carbon emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060 represents one of the world’s most consequential climate undertakings.

These targets underscore the importance of China’s leadership: a greener China directly contributes to global temperature control, pollution reduction, and the stabilization of ecosystems.

The momentum is visible everywhere. By the end of 2024, renewable energy accounted for 56 percent of China’s installed power capacity, while new energy vehicles surpassed fossil-fuel cars in monthly sales for the first time—an achievement unmatched in any major auto market.

Massive afforestation efforts have raised national forest coverage to over 25 percent, contributing roughly a quarter of the world’s new green areas since 2000.

Internationally, China is broadening access to clean technologies—from the artificial intelligence (Al) Dhafra solar plant in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to wind and solar facilities across Latin America and Central Asia—helping partner countries accelerate their own transitions.

As delegates at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Belém, Brazil viewed footage of the Ordos zero-carbon park, they saw more than local innovation; they witnessed a microcosm of a nation turning its climate pledges into real, measurable progress.

China’s leadership in green energy is not only reshaping its own development path—it is offering the world a powerful model for sustainable growth.

– CAJ News