In late 2023, Indonesia’s then President Joko Widodo presided over the launch of the country’s first floating solar power plant on the Cirata reservoir in West Java. Widodo touted how at 192MW it was “the largest floating solar plant in Southeast Asia.” He added the solar plant could eventually reach 500MW, generating enough electricity to power over 100,000 households in Indonesia. This floating powerhouse, made up of 300,000+ Chinese-built PV panels stretching 250 hectares on the water, has become the poster child for Indonesia’s commitment to going solar.

Pakistan’s summer sun is relentless, but its golden rays may hold a promising clean energy solution. 

During my visit to that country last summer, an energy sector expert I met expressed amazement that Pakistan had imported 13 gigawatts of solar modules from China in the first six months of 2024. Media reports celebrated how even remote villages were adopting rooftop solar systems. International observers lauded Pakistan’s “stunning solar boom.”

In a rural, hard-to-reach area of Blantyre district in southern Malawi, Ephraim Louis cannot imagine where his life would be without the solar panel on the roof of his house. “I am not a captive of darkness anymore,” says Louis, 42. “It’s been more than 10 years since I installed this [solar panel] system. We still don’t have the main grid anywhere near us and no one here thinks it will ever come.” 

Indonesia is at the heart of the next decade of growth in Asia. It also is at the frontier of Chinese industry’s move to develop clean energy markets overseas. The Indonesian government and Chinese investors are aligned on a narrative of decarbonization, but on the ground, coal remains central.

As the world inches closer to the critical 1.5°C warming threshold, the demand for decisive climate leadership has never been more pressing. The US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement on January 20, 2025 has left a leadership void. The confluence of these events also has raised the question of whether China can do more to fill the finance gap and help Global South countries decarbonize. 

Indonesia’s economy is on a roll. The archipelago nation harbors ambitions for 8% growth a year on its growing strength as an exporter of coal, palm oil, LNG, and stainless steel made from its booming nickel mining industry.

Investments from China are driving this growth—and run the gamut from traditionally dirty industries (mining, steel, and aluminum) to the crown jewels of Chinese clean energy tech: batteries,  electric vehicles (EVs), and solar panel production. In 2023, Xinyi Glass, the world’s largest solar PV panel maker, announced an 11.5 billion USD investment in a quartz sand processing plant in Indonesia. 

In April 2024, Thai government officials traveled to the Chinese provinces of Fujian and Guangdong with a single-point agenda – convincing the leading Chinese electric vehicle (EV) battery makers to invest in their country. Two months later, the global leader in the EV battery industry, China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Limited (CATL), announced an initial investment of over $100 million to set up an assembly plant in collaboration with a local Thai state-owned company.

In his speech on the world’s struggle against poverty at the 19th G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro in November 2024, China’s President Xi Jinping, cited his country’s standout track record of wealth creation, and exulted: “If China can make it, other developing countries can make it too.

China’s promise to guide the Global South on the path toward modernization has included support for green and sustainable development. Yet its pledge also holds a central environmental challenge, especially as the share of global greenhouse gas emissions from emerging markets and developing economies continues to increase.