China activated a renewable “Marshall Plan” in 2011. It is achieving more than just decarbonizing the planet

Between 1948 and 1952, United States destination 13.3 billion dollars at the time to rebuild Western Europe after the Second World War. This strategy was called the ‘Marshall Plan’. China has its own Marshall Plan, one focused on accelerating the development of ‘green’ technologies on a global scale.

And it is redrawing the energy map of developing countries.

The Green Marshall Plan. It is estimated that, since 2011, China has invested a whopping $227 billion in more than 450 new energy manufacturing projects. Of that amount, around 88% are concentrated from 2022, which shows an impressive acceleration in its roadmap.

BRI. One of the centerpieces of the Xi Jinping government’s foreign policy is the Belt and Road Initiative, or “Belt and Road Initiative“The idea was to create a new concept of international relations based on free trade that took the ancient Silk Road as a model (something that China has taken up).

Much of this investment in green energy is going to the countries that are part of the BRI, and only in 2024 will China invested 11.8 billion dollars in green energy. In the first six months of 2025, investment was 9.7 billion, which shows another acceleration in the expansion of its green policy beyond its borders.

Overproduction as a lever of change. And, if the question is “why,” the answer is “because they can.” Although China continues to extract coal yqwants to become an oil powerhas also strongly supported the renewable energy sector. So much so that they have achieved an overwhelming manufacturing advantage compared to the West.

HE esteem that China produces 80% of the world’s solar panels, 75% of lithium batteries and 70% of wind turbines. They have such strong internal competition that their companies have had to create a kind of OPEC to avoid stepping on each other. And, of course, this enormous production has collapsed the market: solar panels have rock-bottom priceshave crushed Western competition and these low prices allow developing countries or countries that want to change their energy model to do so at a lower cost than a few years ago.

Proper names. In 2024, China exported technologies related to renewables (panels, turbines, batteries and electric vehicles) worth 177 billion dollars, which is equivalent to 5% of its total exports. Being the factory of the worldit’s outrageous. But of that figure, 72 billion were allocated to developing countries. And not only because those countries are buying from China, but because China is investing, directly, in them.

An example is Ethiopia. In 2024, they banned the importation of new gasoline cars with the aim of betting on new energy ones. But at the same time, between 2011 and 2018, China invested 4 billion in the Ethiopian energy sector, with multiple wind farms or the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. This year, another 500 million dollars have ended up in solar manufacturing plants: Chinese companies are establishing themselves in those countries.

Another example is Moroccowith battery factories from chinese manufacturers to feed electric cars. In general, China is moving through Africa supporting this energy transition of countries traditionally very dependent on fossil fuels, but they are not leaving empty-handed: they are also building infrastructures that allow them to exploit mines of critical materials, a fundamental leg of the Chinese technological business and geopolitics.

Brazil, like China. HE esteem that 90% of the solar panels installed in Africa are Chinese, and they are also expanding throughout Latin America. On the one hand, with influence: they build infrastructure and are becoming a key player in the railway rebirth of South America. On the other hand, they are installing factories in several countries. And there Brazil has moved very intelligently.

The country increased tariffs on all automobile imports to force something that China itself did years ago when Western manufacturers wanted to enter the country: to open factories in its territory. BYD or Great Wall Motors are setting up plants in Brazil.

Strange bedfellows. And then there is India. Diplomatic relations between both countries are not at their best and, in fact, India is taking advantage of any excuse to remind China that they also have military muscle. However, on the other side of those tensions, we find a country that is experiencing explosive growth in renewable capacitygoing from 190 GW installed to almost 500 GW projected by 2030.

And what is making that change possible is the cmassive purchase of renewable technologies to China. India buys 17% of the solar cells that China exports, which creates a brutal technological dependency, as well as a dilemma: they need green energy with immediate availability, but they also want to develop their own industrial capabilities. And this overproduction in China, with such low prices, makes the goal of national manufacturing less attractive.

Taking the role of the US. And, precisely, it was during the COP30 held a few days ago in Brazil, where China’s role was highlighted. In a report by The New York Times point out how, in the Paris Agreement, rich countries relied on poorer ones to begin taking measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In some cases, it remained a simple promise while developing countries claimed their right to industrialization, something for which they have been using fossil fuels.

China has seen the gap and thanks to cheap renewables, these developing countries can continue their industrialization in a more environmentally friendly way. And we go back to what we did before: China presenting itself as a pillar of global stability in an event in which the United States has not made an appearance.

And while Europe and the US analyze what to do, China continues to expand its influence.

Images | POT, Korea Aerospace Research Institute

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