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Climate Change and Renewable Energy News and Discussion
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Trump’s Iran war has propelled China’s cleantech industry
Disruption to global energy supplies sparks surge in demand for alternatives
in Shanghai
At the start of 2026 there was an air of uncertainty about China’s clean technology industry.
Companies such as electric vehicle maker BYD and battery giant CATL had enjoyed years of strong growth as China stole a march on the global transition to electrified transport. But they now face considerable challenges both at home and abroad.
In China, the sector’s growth was being affected by the phaseout of subsidies as well as crackdowns on companies’ poor treatment of suppliers, unsustainable price competition and .
Overseas, many Chinese companies saw a landscape of rising tariff walls and increased scrutiny from Brussels and Washington over whether their products posed a national security risk.
And then, in late February, came President Donald Trump’s decision to attack Iran, leading to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a key energy trade artery. This led not only to higher prices in many parts of the world but also to genuine fears about oil and gas shortages. The shock has sparked a surge in demand for Chinese cleantech.
According to customs data, exports of Chinese-made solar cells hit 1.7bn units in March, a record high for a single month. Demand in March and April was led by south-east Asia and Africa, highlighting how swaths of the oil-dependent developing world have emerged as key markets for low-cost Chinese renewable energy technologies.
Battery-powered vehicles, from two-wheelers and cars to buses and trucks, have also benefited. When the FT visited Yadea, the world’s largest producer of battery-powered scooters and motorcycles, at its headquarters in Wuxi, executives said overseas demand was tracking about than a year ago.
At Sany, one of China’s top producers of electric trucks, executives also pointed to a more than 70 per cent year-on-year increase in industry-wide sales since the war started. The company said that with diesel prices high, electric trucks can recoup their extra purchase cost within 12 to 14 months.
“We have to thank Trump. He created an opportunity for us,” Huang Tie, deputy general manager of the group’s truck manufacturing unit, told the FT.
For ’s EV producers, the boost to foreign demand from higher oil prices has been nothing short of a saviour from domestic weakness. Data from Automobility, a Shanghai consultancy, shows that auto exports in April hit a record high of 900,000 units, up from about 500,000 in the same month in 2025.
Dealers say the sharp increase in fuel prices has changed the way many people think about cars. In Australia, for example, nearly half of all vehicles sold in May were either battery-only, hybrid or plug-in hybrid.
There is an open debate about how and when the Iran war will be resolved. However, many analysts believe it will ultimately reinforce the world’s long-term direction of travel towards cleaner transport and energy. This, in turn, will almost certainly increase the world’s dependence on Chinese supply chains and exacerbate trade tensions.
Neil Beveridge, a veteran energy analyst at Bernstein in Hong Kong, has raised his long-term growth target for battery demand. Bernstein forecasts that battery demand will grow at a compound annual rate of 9 per cent over the next 25 years, or from 1.8 terawatt hours last year to 5.7 TWh by 2030 and 16.6 TWh by 2050.
While much near-term demand growth is being fuelled by power for AI, Beveridge pointed out that “China is driving electrification across all major industry verticals”. He noted that in shipping, for example, more than 70 per cent of new vessel orders in China are dual-fuel — with batteries as backup.
Another sign of longer-term effects can be seen in the sharp rise in heavy industry decarbonisation projects reaching final investment decisions.
Data from Mission Possible Partnership, an international non-profit, showed that 19 clean industry projects globally reached final investment decisions in the past six months, more than double the rate recorded a year earlier.
Of these projects — which span clean fuels, chemicals, fertilisers and metals and account for about $43bn of investment — more than two-thirds are in China.
“Clean industry is rising because the world has changed,” said Faustine Delasalle, CEO of Mission Possible Partnership.
Ye Lin, an Asia oil market analyst at Rystad Energy, believes there are signs that, for China at least, the shift from oil to electricity will be permanent.
“Confidence built in a disruption tends to outlast the disruption itself,” she said.
Additional reporting by William Langley, Xueqiao Wang and Haohsiang Ko
碳生万物 broke ground in Ningxia for a thousand ton scale direct air capture (DAC) to SAF pilot project. 5000t CO2 capture capacity & 1389 SAF. CO2 to SAF conversion ratio is 1t to 0.28t. Prior mileston was 100t demo line in Shanghai Lingang. Combines DAC(CO2 from air) with green hydrogen & Fischer-Tropsch or methano-to-jet synthesis or e-SAF route.
The Institute of Semiconductors has made progress in the research of high-performance large-area perovskite solar cells.
Topological lasers (TL) are laser devices designed and manufactured using topological optics principles. They can produce robust single-mode lasers and are ideal light sources for future novel optoelectronic integrated chips. Electrically pumped topological lasers have become a research hotspot in recent years due to their small size and ease of integration. However, electrically injected topological lasers are still in the early stages of research, with low output power and performance far from practical applications. Therefore, developing a design approach and technical solution to improve the output power of electrically pumped topological lasers is crucial.
Recently, Professor Liu Fengqi's research team at the Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has made progress in the development of high-performance electrically pumped topological lasers. The research team innovatively introduced a surface metal Dirac topological cavity (SMDC) design (Figure 1), fabricating the topological cavity on a surface metal layer, preserving the integrity of the active region, and providing sufficient gain to achieve high power output, thus solving the bottleneck problem of active region etching limiting the power improvement of electrically pumped topological lasers. Utilizing the strong coupling between the SMDC and the active region, robust topological interband mode (Jackiw-Rossi zero-energy mode) operation was achieved by optimizing the absorption edge and topological cavity parameter design under low effective refractive index difference conditions. This was demonstrated in the robust single-mode laser spectrum and far-field mode of topological lasers with different structural parameters.
Recently, Professor Liu Fengqi's research team at the Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has made progress in the development of high-performance electrically pumped topological lasers. The research team innovatively introduced a surface metal Dirac topological cavity (SMDC) design (Figure 1), fabricating the topological cavity on a surface metal layer, preserving the integrity of the active region, and providing sufficient gain to achieve high power output, thus solving the bottleneck problem of active region etching limiting the power improvement of electrically pumped topological lasers. Utilizing the strong coupling between the SMDC and the active region, robust topological interband mode (Jackiw-Rossi zero-energy mode) operation was achieved by optimizing the absorption edge and topological cavity parameter design under low effective refractive index difference conditions. This was demonstrated in the robust single-mode laser spectrum and far-field mode of topological lasers with different structural parameters.
Plans for lower emission of coal power including retiring older < 300MW coal plants, undergoing ultra-supercriticcal/nexg-gen upgrade for 600MW-class coal plants, adding CCUS retrofit & implementing zero/low-carbon fuel co-firing. This will reduce carbon emissions per kWh by ~10% for integrated projects.