From powerpoint to powerplant: evaluating the impact of the U.S.-China Sunnylands commitment to tripling global renewable energy capacity by 2030

Abstract

In the Sunnylands statement, China and the U.S. committed to supporting efforts toward a global tripling of renewable energy by 2030. Despite unprecedented recent renewable energy growth, the world is currently off track by a substantial margin: 3,432 GW in 2030, a lacuna roughly equal to the world’s combined renewables capacity in 2022. Closing this gap requires vastly increased ambition and cooperation. The U.S. would need to significantly raise its domestic renewables ambitions. Meanwhile, both China and the U.S. would need to launch new efforts to collaboratively accelerate financial, technological, and capacity-building support for renewables development elsewhere in the world. Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care, for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or ill. - Attributed to the Buddha

Keywords

• renewable energy
• U.S.-China
• climate change
• international collaboration