By Wen Shugang
As countries including China accelerate their clean energy investments, it’s becoming increasingly clear that renewables are not just changing how we power the world – they’re fundamentally reshaping the human-nature dynamic. As a result, the energy transition has become more than a path to decarbonisation; it’s now a catalyst for systemic transformation.
In China, new energy solutions are being guided by digital technologies and ecological planning. These innovative energy projects are driving industrial upgrades, restoring degraded landscapes and building climate resilience. They are empowering green development to help integrate environmental protection, economic modernization and social progress.
Cleaning the air: Emission controls and net-zero industry
Decarbonising power generation remains the cornerstone of global climate mitigation efforts. In 2024, global renewable electricity capacity expanded by 15.1%, with China accounting for over 60% of new additions. This rapid growth plays a vital role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In China, CO₂ emissions from power generation have plateaued despite increasing electricity demand.
This clean energy infrastructure is laying the groundwork for the rise of net-zero industrial clusters. Emerging sectors such as green hydrogen, electric vehicles and digital energy services are clustering around renewable energy hubs. These industrial ecosystems support deep decarbonization of traditional economic activities and lead to job creation in technical, construction and service domains. This could foster more inclusive and sustainable regional economies.
Pilot initiatives in provinces like Inner Mongolia and Qinghai are already using renewables to build integrated low-carbon industrial systems, according to China’s National Development and Reform Commission.
In Inner Mongolia’s Ordos region, large-scale wind-solar-hydrogen-storage demonstration bases are being developed alongside industrial park upgrades. This is helping high-emission sectors such as coal-based chemicals manufacturing to shift toward net-zero models.
In the Haixi Prefecture in Qinghai, solar and wind power are supplying energy intensive industries like aluminum smelting and battery materials. This is creating electrified, decarbonized value chains.
As China advances its dual carbon goals, these integrated models show how clean infrastructure, modern supply chains and regional development can support a just and sustainable transition.
Reclaiming the land: Solar innovation and ecological restoration
Desertification is accelerating due to climate change and now affects about 500 million people globally. In this environment, traditional measures such as afforestation, agroforestry and sustainable land management remain critical. Solar-powered desertification control is also emerging as an innovative, nature-based solution that complements these efforts and expands the potential of solar panels or photovoltaics (PV) to support both environmental resilience and the energy transition.
In China’s Gobi Desert and Loess Plateau, large-scale PV arrays are mitigating land degradation. By suppressing wind-blown dust and retaining soil moisture, these installations create microclimates that encourage the growth of native grasses and low shrubs, stabilizing soil and restoring biodiversity.
Agrivoltaic systems, which combine agriculture with solar energy production, are also scaling in China. Recent research shows that converting even a small portion of the croplands currently used for biofuels into ecologically designed solar farms can significantly boost energy efficiency and enhance ecosystem services.
Zhangwu County in Liaoning Province was once severely desertified, but now hosts a 500 megawatt PV project that is connected to the grid as a trial run in late 2024. This China Huaneng Group initiative integrates drip irrigation, organic soil enrichment and planting to reclaim desertified land.
These innovative projects demonstrate how the energy transition can align with ecological restoration, reclaiming degraded land while generating clean power. Renewable energy systems can serve as a bridge between energy infrastructure and ecological stewardship by reclaiming degraded lands, increasing biodiversity and enabling multifunctional land use.
Balancing the water cycle: Hydropower and climate resilience
As climate change intensifies extreme weather events and disrupts hydrological patterns, water management has become a central pillar of regional sustainability in China. When governed by big data and advanced technologies, hydropower can serve as a multifunctional resilience tool by generating clean energy, storing water and mitigating the risk of floods and droughts.
In 2024, China recorded 26 floods across major rivers – the highest since records began in 1998, prompting the country’s Ministry of Water Resources to issue 4,303 flood warnings. Hydropower reservoirs played a vital role by storing 147.1 billion cubic meters of floodwater, significantly reducing damage and protecting lives and property.
On the Lancang River in southwest China, 12 cascade hydropower stations deploy digital monitoring and centralized, basin-wide controls. This has improved power generation efficiency across wet and dry seasons and optimized the joint operation of reservoirs.
Such systems contribute to regional water resilience. During severe Mekong River droughts in 2016 and 2019, upstream emergency water releases helped ease shortages downstream. In 2016 alone, 12.65 billion cubic meters of water was released – an 85% increase over natural inflow at Jinghong hydrologic station.
China’s hydropower facilities have gradually become an integral part of its green infrastructure. In this context, hydropower is not just an energy carrier but a platform for integrated water-energy planning. This renewable infrastructure is fostering climate resilience, ecosystem services and cross-border collaboration – core elements of sustainable development in a changing climate.
Reimagining energy for a greener future
As the world advances toward net-zero goals, new energy solutions must be designed with three crucial issues in mind: carbon reduction, energy supply security, and ecological regeneration and sustainable development.
This integrated approach also reflects the need for harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature. It means new energy solutions must go beyond gigawatts to become more adaptive, multifunctional systems that co-evolve with nature. This is how we can reimagine energy as a restorative force for both people and the planet.
Wen Shugang is the chairman of China Huaneng Group.
First published in the World Economic Forum.
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