China’s BYD overtaking Tesla as the world’s best-selling brand of electric vehicles is one of the most eye-catching headlines of the first week of 2024. But it is just one of the green milestones that China has recently achieved. More important for the world’s environment was the news late last month that China’s share of renewable energy capacity — mostly solar, wind and hydro — reached about 50 per cent of its total generation capacity in 2023. Renewables’ installed capacity surpassed that of coal power for the first time, according to Xinhua, China’s official news agency.
中國的比亞迪(BYD)超越特斯拉(Tesla)成爲全球最暢銷的電動汽車品牌，是2024年第一週最引人注目的新聞頭條之一。但這只是中國綠色轉型近期達到的里程碑之一。對世界環境更重要的是上月下旬的一則新聞：2023年，中國可再生能源（主要是太陽能、風能和水力發電）佔全國發電總裝機容量的50%左右。據中國官方通訊社新華社(Xinhua)報導，可再生能源裝機容量首次超過火電。