New data from Global Energy Monitor (GEM) has found that China is building almost twice as much wind and solar energy capacity as every other country in the world combined.

While a GEM report published earlier this year found that China accounted for two-thirds of coal-burning power capacity in 2023, its most recent reports – Global solar power tracker and Global wind power tracker – found that the world’s second-largest economy is also leading the way in renewables development with 180GW of utility-scale solar and 159GW of wind power already under construction.

The total of this wind and solar capacity is nearly twice as much as the rest of the world combined, and enough to power all of South Korea, the reports find.

Wind and solar now account for 37% of the total power capacity in the country – an 8% increase from 2022 – and are widely expected to surpass coal capacity, which is 39% of the total right now, in 2024.

Between March 2023 and March 2024, China installed more solar than it...