"China is determined to be the world’s leader in the green economy, and they see green economy over the next 50 years as being a major part of their economy and they want to dominate [the sector]," Carbon Tracker CEO Anthony Hobley said.
Hobley, whose initiative campaigns for a climate secure global energy market, said Beijing looked determined to move away from coal, considering the level of air pollution in the country linked to coal-burning.
The first ever "red alert" warning was issued in Beijing on Monday after air pollution reached one of the most dangerous levels yet, prompting the government to limit car use and stop the operations of several factories.
"They have a major political issue with coal pollution in the population, so they are moving now to address that in a major way," Hobley said, adding China looked likely to overachieve the national climate commitments it made ahead of the climate talks in Paris.
China has the biggest renewable energy program in the world, Hobley continued. He said that China’s installed renewable energy capacity was bigger than in the rest of countries around the world combined.
"I would expect by 2050 China would be one of the cleanest industrial economies in the world, and it will be driven by 21st century energy technology, not 20th century technology," Hobley suggested.
One of the reasons why the cost of wind and solar energy went down so dramatically was, Hobley said, because China had moved into manufacturing wind and solar at scale.
UN-backed climate talks aimed at reaching a long-term deal to cut carbon emissions entered their second, and last, week on Monday. China, which is the world’s biggest polluter, has been participating in the conference alongside more than 190 nations.
Moscow should strengthen its energy partnership with Beijing, as the Chinese government is set to dominate green economy, the CEO of Carbon Tracker financial think tank said.
"That would be a very smart thing for Russia to do, is to also have a green technological partnership with China, because China is determined to be at the forefront," Anthony Hobley said.
Hobley underlined that the international community was currently working on a global acceleration of technology and research to build next-generation technology.
In mid-November, Russia’s Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Russia would increase investments into renewable energy sources segments to $53 billion by 2035.
China continues to be the world leader in renewable energy investments, spending a total of $83.3 billion on wind, solar and other renewable projects in 2014, according to the Global Status Report.
