{"id":91130,"date":"2026-10-12T10:26:05","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T09:26:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/?post_type=publication&#038;p=91130"},"modified":"2026-10-12T15:14:50","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T14:14:50","slug":"how-chinas-growth-model-fosters-green-industrial-dominance","status":"publish","type":"publication","link":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/publication\/how-chinas-growth-model-fosters-green-industrial-dominance\/","title":{"rendered":"How China\u2019s growth model fosters green industrial dominance"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<?xml encoding=\"UTF-8\"><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">China leads the world in the production and use of renewable energy, batteries and electric vehicles. What explains China&rsquo;s global dominance of these green industries? This paper argues that the answer can be found in China&rsquo;s growth model and then considers what this means for the wider green transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The author argues that China&rsquo;s politics determine its growth model, and the growth model fosters clean tech development. China&rsquo;s authoritarian politics are characterised by a balancing of economic growth and security, a preference for investment and exports, the elimination of powerful industrial coalitions and a high degree of state capacity, all of which lend themselves to developing green industries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Green industries fit well into these dimensions of China&rsquo;s growth model and therefore receive large-scale support. The development of the solar industry exemplifies this pattern: the industry supports energy security goals by reducing imports, it drives growth through exports and domestic investment, it faces no obstruction from incumbent interests and it is heavily supported through high state capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Key points for decision-makers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Scaling up clean industries is a natural part of China&rsquo;s growth model because: 1) clean industries reduce China&rsquo;s reliance on energy imports; 2) clean industries provide new drivers of investment and exports; 3) no incumbent industrial coalition can resist their expansion; 4) the Chinese party&ndash;state supports them through supply-side, demand-side and macro-structural policies.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>By the logic that green growth merely entails decoupling growth and emissions, China has achieved green growth. But nominally reducing emissions requires more than supporting green industries. In fact, China also supports emission-intensive industries, producing more than half the world&rsquo;s steel, aluminium, cement and petrochemical products, as these also fit the country&rsquo;s growth model.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The shift to clean technologies in China is, so far, proportional rather than absolute. While clean energies form a growing share of China&rsquo;s energy mix, the consumption of coal to produce energy has not fallen significantly. Further progress requires either political and economic reform, which is unlikely, or technological progress that lets clean technologies outcompete fossil fuel alternatives.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>While the US and Europe played key roles in developing green technologies, it was China&rsquo;s ability to scale and commercialise them that has driven down their price. As China continues to use the state apparatus to massively support clean technologies, this drives down prices. Indirectly, China is subsidising a global green transition by making clean tech cheaper across the world.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>While China is an outlier in terms of its level of investment as a share of gross domestic product (44% in China versus a global average of 25%), the country does provide a model which suggests that investment-led growth provides direct potential for decarbonisation and the green transition.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>DOI: 10.21953\/researchonline.lse.ac.uk.00141319<\/strong><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<?xml encoding=\"UTF-8\"><p>In this paper, the author argues that China&rsquo;s politics determine its growth model, and the growth model fosters clean tech development. <\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":91131,"template":"","tags":[154,5034,393,4925,647],"publication-type":[435],"topic_area":[4694,4697,4706],"class_list":["post-91130","publication","type-publication","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-china","tag-clean-tech","tag-climate-change","tag-green-transition","tag-political-economy","publication-type-working-papers","topic_area-policy-evaluation","topic_area-energy","topic_area-major-emitting-countries"],"acf":{"show_translations_widget":{"ref_value":"field_6203d588c41e8","value":"0","type":false,"post_type":""},"exclude_from_sync":{"ref_value":"field_560538b0e7350","value":"0","type":false,"post_type":""},"rss_newsletter":{"ref_value":"field_54f5c2c1544d8","value":"","type":false,"post_type":""},"downloads":{"ref_value":"field_52f16cc1a80f2","value":["https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/GRI-working-paper-458-Larsen-final.pdf"],"type":"download","post_type":""},"profile_link":{"ref_value":"field_52f164b5189e9","value":["mathias-larsen"],"type":"relationship","post_type":"profile"},"spotlight":{"ref_value":"field_52f80896506d3","value":"","type":false,"post_type":""}},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - 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