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The Chinese province of Zhejiang is the world leader in electrification, according to an analysis by US-based research group RMI.
Why it matters: Electrification of road transport, heating, industrial processes, and other applications is critical to the fight against climate change — yet most regions have made little progress to date. Electricity currently satisfies only 20% of the world’s total energy needs.
To raise that share, we’ll need to swap internal combustion engine vehicles for electric models, gas boilers for heat pumps, and industrial blast furnaces for electric alternatives, among other changes.
Doing so would help countries to double the annual rate of energy efficiency improvements by 2030 — a target agreed at the COP28 climate summit in 2023.
The latest: Zhejiang, a province in China’s east that’s a major global producer of solar panels and batteries, has reached an electrification rate of 51%, per RMI’s research. The southern province of Guangdong ranks second, at 49%, while Norway, the world leader in the transition to electric vehicles, is close behind at 47%.
Zhejiang’s lead is partly thanks to its switch away from fossil fuel-powered vehicles. In 2023, four in 10 new cars sold in Zhejiang were electric.
The real electrification driver, however, has been the province’s low electricity tariffs, according to RMI. “There are no high-electrification territories with high electricity prices.”
As such, Europe and the US will continue to fall behind China in the global electrification race — unless they lower their power prices.
