A new analysis estimates that clean-technology products exported by China in 2025 helped avoid about 374 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, more than Britain emitted over the same year.
The estimate was produced by Lauri Myllyvirta, co-founder of the Helsinki-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air. It covers exports including solar panels, batteries, wind turbines and electric vehicles.
The analysis also estimates that China’s 2025 clean-tech exports could avoid around 6.9 billion tonnes of CO2 over their operating lifetimes, about 31% more than the projected lifetime impact of its 2024 exports.
China is simultaneously the world’s largest carbon emitter and the leading producer and exporter of many technologies used to reduce emissions. Its scale in solar manufacturing, batteries, electric vehicles and wind equipment has reshaped the cost of electrification in many countries.
The figures are modelled estimates rather than directly measured emissions reductions. They depend on assumptions about how exported technologies are used and which higher-emission alternatives they replace, so the numbers should be read as analytical projections rather than an observed global emissions count.