US energy strategy holds world hostage: China Daily editorial

Energy officials and leaders from the European Union, the United Kingdom and many other countries gathered for a summit on the future of energy security that opened in London on Thursday. If they expected a consensus would be built among nations to promote the development of renewable energy in pursuit of a cleaner and safer world, they were in for a rude awakening.

"We oppose these harmful and dangerous policies," Tommy Joyce, US acting assistant secretary of energy for international affairs, told the conference, referring to plans to phase out fossil fuels to combat climate change. Moreover, he claimed the green policies only served "the interests of our adversaries" and had been "harming human lives".

What he said, of course, is the official policy of the "drill, baby, drill" of the current US administration, for which fossil fuels are central to its economic strategy and "clean and green" akin to invoking the devil. Joyce claimed at the meeting that efforts to halt global warming were tantamount to handing power to China. "There are no wind turbines without concessions to or coercion from China," he said.

The White House has ditched clean energy policies and embraced fossil fuels by declaring a "national energy emergency". It is seeking to unlock the full potential of the US' fossil fuel resources to lower the country's energy costs and strengthen its industrial base, as well as meet the growing electricity demand driven by the growth of power-hungry artificial intelligence data centers. 

In contrast with the US rejecting and obstructing global climate cooperation, China has contributed to global climate change actions in a responsible manner. The country has built the world's largest and fastest-growing renewable energy system as well as the largest and most complete new energy industry chain. China has also contributed one-fourth of the world's newly added afforested area.

Reaffirming the country's commitment to global climate action, China has pledged that no matter how the international situation changes, it will not slow down its efforts to address climate change.

The country will set new goals ahead of the COP30 summit in November to cut emissions by 2035 that would cover the entire economy, and include all greenhouse gases, which is seen as crucial to limiting global warming in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement.

China also called on countries to support multilateral climate action and deepen international cooperation to enable the free flow of green technologies.

It is deplorable that the US is politicizing energy security. A sustainable future means the world must move on from fossil fuels as soon as possible.