China's green exports show robust growth in 2025

China has accelerated the green transformation of its foreign trade in recent years, said Li Chenggang, China's international trade representative at the Ministry of Commerce (MOC), at a press conference on Friday.

Li, who is also vice-minister of MOC, noted that China has seen robust export performance in green and low-carbon products. For instance, in the first three quarters of this year, exports of wind turbine generators and components grew by over 30 percent.

Similarly, exports of photovoltaic products have exceeded 200 billion yuan ($28.6 billion) for four consecutive years, and exports of electric vehicles surpassed two million units for the first time last year. All these demonstrate that green trade has provided important support for stabilizing the scale and optimizing the structure of China's foreign trade, he added.

In response to a question about how China's recently imposed export controls on rare earths would affect its foreign trade of green technology products, Li noted that the measures are rooted in security considerations and have nothing to do with its green development goals. Li emphasized that security is a prerequisite for sustainable development, and robust development, in turn, strengthens national security.

Li said that China has also been advancing the greening of industries and the low-carbon transition of products.

By the end of 2024, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology had established 451 green design enterprises, developed and promoted over 40,000 green products, and cultivated 6,430 national green factories as well as 491 green industrial parks. 

Green trade in services is also an important driving force for global economic growth and structural adjustment, noted Wang Xin, head of the Research Bureau of the People's Bank of China, the country's central bank. He said the financial sector mainly empowers the development of green trade in services through tools such as green credit, green bonds, and green equity funds.