1. United States
2. Tenn.
3. Letter

The GOP obsession with drilling for oil and gas is putting the US at a terrible disadvantage to China’s drive toward renewable energy. Here’s what’s happening in China, which currently installs more than half the world’s renewable energy and storage within its own borders, and exports most of the solar panels and batteries used by the rest of the world. In May, according to government records, China had installed a record ninety-three gigawatts of solar power—amounting to a gigawatt every eight hours. The pace was apparently paying off—analysts reported that, in the first quarter of the year, total carbon emissions in China had actually decreased; emissions linked to producing electricity fell nearly six per cent, as solar and wind have replaced coal. In 2024, almost half the automobiles sold in China, which is the world’s largest car market, were full or hybrid electric vehicles. And China’s prowess at producing cheap solar panels (and E.V.s) means that nations with which it has strong trading links—in Asia, Africa, South America—are seeing their own surge of renewable power. Please do something to restore the renewable tax credits from the the previous administration. Don’t allow China to dominate the world market in renewable technologies. It’s not too late. But you need to act fast if you don’t want to see China bury the US in this technology and world market.