Yet in 2020 their renewable energy capacity expansion accounted for nearly 80% of global additions in 2019-2020

See page 6 of this report from the international energy agency: https://iea.blob.core.windows.net/assets/18a6041d-bf13-4667-...

And they appear to be one of the few nations currently pursuing expansion in next generation nuclear reactors that cannot be weaponized: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02459-w

This was my understanding of China. They do use a lot of coal, but it is because they are having to ramp up energy usage with coal-fire plants to keep the factories going. They do have long term plans to phase out coal, but when energy needed to keep up production or add new production (perhaps offshoring of jobs and factories to China), they have the build the coal-fire plants. Last I looked, they had about 30 nuclear reactors planned/in-construction/still at the drawing board.

Isn't it much easier in China? Obviously they can't change things overnight, but Xi just has to decree that getting on renewables is the top priority, and it'd get done.

Or is there something particularly thorny about this that could cause massive civil unrest if he were to take that step?

I wonder how much of the Bitcoin ban was electric production related and how much was economic control related.

As China continues to modernize and become more energy-intensive, that power has to come from somewhere. If he bans coal too early or restricts it too much, progress that the people saw happening and intensely want could slow dramatically.

People will follow a strong dictator as long as they don’t see a much better path. If they see a much better path, support will wane quickly and possibly in an ugly fashion.

yea with China's energy crisis problem its increasing coal production and consumption.. plus a massive increase in LNG

Whether your primary source of electricity is coal, or natural gas, you face very nearly the same problem, and China has a much more powerful central government that can dictate radical change than the USA, if they choose to do so.

yea their change is to force coal producers to limit price and to increase production, unban Australian coal and buy more.... plus buy a massive amount of LNG from the USA... China is increasing its carbon output while still having to massively ration electricity... not so sure if they are taking this so seriously nor the world.