China’s Role in the Global Energy Transition

Dr. Scott Moore is the director of China Programs at the University of Pennsylvania, and the author of the book, China's Next Act: How Sustainability and Technology are Reshaping China's Rise and the World's Future. China is a complicated climate topic: on the one hand, China is the largest solar energy producer in the world and has the largest EV industry in the world, each of which rose from being nearly non-existent 15 years ago. On the other hand, China generates more than 60% of its electricity from coal and is the world's largest annual emitter of greenhouse gases. Scott and Cody cover a lot of ground, including how the Chinese economic and political system operates, how the solar and EV industries came to be, China's climate policies, global commitments, and the country's current climate, tech and innovation priorities. Given China's role and impact in just about everything, we probably should do another 100 or more MCJ episodes on topics related to China. Hopefully this initial primer can help us all get oriented.