As the closure of the Strait of Hormuz wreaks havoc on fossil-fuel supplies across the world, a prominent narrative in western media has been that low-carbon energy has helped mitigate the worst of the impact on China. While Chinese-language media has featured similar arguments, it has also highlighted China’s coal industry and broader energy security narratives. Below, Carbon Brief looks at how Chinese news outlets have covered the implications of the US and Israel war with Iran on energy use. Justification for ‘new energy’ system As the conflict has intensified, several Chinese-language outlets have put the spotlight on China’s clean-energy infrastructure. The tensions highlight the “importance” of energy security and the energy transition, writes Bo’ao forum secretary-general Zhang Jun in a commentary for the Communist party-affiliated People’s Daily. The China Youth Daily, a party-run newspaper oriented towards younger readers, says the conflict has “exacerbated” fragile energy supply chains, underscoring the need to “develop ‘new energy’ sources for energy security”. Building “localised” clean-energy capacity is a “strategic necessity”, as well as an important aspect of climate action, writes Wang Ning, associate researcher at the government-affiliated Institute of World Economy in the state-supporting Global Times. Meanwhile, Liu Ying, research fellow at Renmin University’s Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, tells state news agency Xinhua that China is well-placed to benefit if the crisis catalyses a “restructuring of the global energy order” and hastens uptake of solar and wind power. Echoing this sentiment, WeChat account Photovoltaic News, which is run by an unnamed individual,…
