Renewables Capitalism and the Contradictions of Green Industrialization: The Case of China

Ying Chen

Development and Change, 2025, vol. 56, issue 4-5, 871-896

Abstract: China's renewable energy development is often seen as a success story in the global green transition effort. This article examines how that success has been shaped by the interplay between the state's development rationale and the logic of capital followed by enterprises — factors that have enabled rapid capacity expansion and falling costs of production. Yet running alongside these achievements are deep structural tensions. Drawing on evidence from China's solar power, wind power and electric vehicle sectors, the article argues that the logic of capital — expressed in price wars, overcapacity and international trade conflict — has repeatedly challenged the state's strategic development goals. China's experience offers a particularly revealing case of the limits of technocratic green industrialization under capitalism. Rather than a model to emulate, China illustrates both the possibilities and the constraints of building renewables capitalism from the Global South.

Date: 2025
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