China is outpacing the United States in the global race to dominate energy exports, as demand for clean technology surges and fossil fuel revenues plateau. The country exported $120bn in green technology through July 2025, surpassing the $80bn in US oil and gas exports over the same period, Bloomberg reported on October 12.

With the AI revolution in full swing, the country that masters the supply of cheap, clean and renewable power supplies will win. The Trump administration is betting on boosting fossil fuel supplies and ramping up its LNG gas production and export, while China has thrown everything into the renewables pot and has already emerged as the global green energy champion.

According to Ember, a climate and energy think tank, Chinese exports of solar panels, batteries, electric vehicles and other carbon-cutting equipment reached a record $20bn in August.

“China reached a record value in cleantech exports even as technology prices have fallen sharply,” Euan Graham, a data analyst at Ember, told Bloomberg.

While the US set its own record for oil exports in 2024, China’s clean energy exports were $30bn higher. The US has positioned itself as a dominant fossil fuel supplier in recent years, significantly increasing output under both President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden. Trump, now in his second term, is seeking to further expand fossil fuel production by rolling back regulations and scaling down support for clean technologies. The US president is openly hostile towards renewables and recently moved to gut the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of its Obama-era "endangerment finding” – a scientific conclusion that is the legal basis for US climate regulations.

Despite falling prices for solar equipment, China continues to increase export volumes. In August, it shipped 46,000 megawatts of solar power capacity abroad — a record high in volume, even if revenue remained below the peak set in March 2023.

More recently, Beijing has overseen a second revolution in battery technology that addresses the key renewables problem of covering the baseload demand when the wind is not blowing, or the sun is not shining.

Thanks to more heavy investment and its control over rare earth metals (REMs), China has raced ahead in the production of batteries that are rapidly becoming an integral part of any renewable energy product, fuelled by plunging battery prices. China holds a commanding position in the global battery manufacturing industry, particularly in the production of lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles (EVs), consumer electronics, and energy storage systems. China dominates the refining and processing of key battery minerals, including: lithium, cobalt, graphite and nickel.

According to data from BloombergNEF and the International Energy Agency (IEA), China currently accounts for over 75% of global lithium-ion battery production capacity. This includes the production of battery cells as well as upstream components such as cathodes, anodes, and electrolytes. China’s dominance is so complete that Sweden’s battery-maker Northvolt recently went bust, billed as Europe’s battery national champion.

Chinese electric vehicle exports are also expanding rapidly in developing markets. According to Ember, more than half of China’s EV exports in 2025 have gone to countries outside the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, underlining a strategic shift toward emerging economies.

While China remains a significant importer of fossil fuels, it is deploying the majority of its clean technology domestically. In the current quarter, China is expected to sell more electric cars at home than the total number of cars — of any type — sold in the US.

Both China and the US maintain excess capacity in their respective energy sectors, generating significant export revenue. However, analysts suggest that China’s long-term influence may grow due to the enduring utility of clean energy technologies.

“Clean energy exports are hardware, which once a country has bought it, will generate electricity for a decade or two to come,” Greg Jackson, chief executive officer of Octopus Energy told Bloomberg. “Whereas with gas, the day you buy it, you use it, it's gone forever.”

The clean tech/battery-maker combination is giving China a decisive advantage in the green transition. Chinese companies are among the world’s largest battery makers. Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL), headquartered in Fujian, is the world’s largest EV battery manufacturer, with a market share of over 35% as of 2025. Other key players include BYD, EVE Energy, and CALB.

China is also the largest EV market globally, accounting for over 60% of all electric cars sold worldwide in 2024, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). Exports of Chinese batteries and electric vehicle components reached $65bn in the first half of 2025, driven by overseas demand for clean energy technologies, Bloomberg reported.