One of the great myths that emerged from last week’s Davos conference was that while the U.S. is using fossil fuels, China is all in on green energy. We’ve toppled that enduring myth many times on these pages.

But the Chinese are relentless liars, as evidenced by China’s vice premier last week touting the need to “ensure the free flow of quality green products globally.” He claimed that China generates 561 gigawatts of electricity from wind, some four times that of the U.S.

That’s fine. The reality is that the Chinese economy is powered by coal.

The Statistical Review of World Energy reports that coal accounted for 58% of China’s primary energy consumption in late 2024. Oil was at 20% and natural gas at 10%. If our math is right, that’s almost 90% of China’s energy coming from fossil fuels and everything  else – nuclear, hydroelectric, solar, wind, and other renewables – accounting for just 12%.

China burns 20 times the combined consumption of the 27 member states of the European Union. Since 2000, China has tripled its coal consumption. Every greenhouse gas reduction in the Western world has been more than offset several times by what the Chinese have produced.

Beijing officials are no doubt laughing behind the backs of gullible Westerners who believe that Beijing is committed to green energy – while they burn more coal than ever.