All that's needed now is for China to follow suit, rather than commissioning tens of
GW▸ of new coal power every year, as well as thousands of coal mines, sadly our contribution is less than a drop in the (warming) ocean in this context.........where's Greta these days?
If she went to China, she would be surprised at the efforts they are making to cut emissions there. There are currently 22 nuclear power stations under construction, with another 70 planned, so she might be irrationally alarmed too. Pressurised water seems to be the favoured design, meaning higher "burn-up" of fuel. They are not the sort you would use to make weapons, unlike our own former Magnox fleet. On renewables, and Greta would surely approve, China aimed to have 1,200 GW installed capacity of wind and solar plant by 2030, but hit the target this summer, 6 years early. The momentum will continue, apparently more out of energy security fears than concern for the planet. They are worried they may run out of coal. Chinese use of coal has increased greatly over the past two decades because it uses an awful lot more electricity in total, but the proportion generated by renewables and nuclear is rising, and quickly. We use less electricity than we did in contrast. More efficient gadgetry is one reason, but we have also in effect exported a lot of the more polluting industries, importing the products those industries used to make from places like, er, China.
I'm no apologist for China's political class or system, but I reckon in 10 years' time, Britain will have made some modest advances in clean energy, if not actually achieving our stated targets, and China will be way ahead. This won't stop some people still citing Chinese fossil fuel use as an excuse to do nothing in Britain and the USA. It isn't just China: India is speeding up deployment of new renewables and nuclear power projects, and the UAE is moving from 100% gas-powered electricity plants to 100% renewable and nuclear.
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