“Science” publishes a groundbreaking report: China’s “fifth great invention” has been recognized as the top breakthrough.

New energy technology has been hailed as China’s “fifth great invention,” a status that has once again been recognized by a leading international journal.

 

On December 18, the prestigious U.S. academic journal Science announced its list of the Top Ten Scientific Breakthroughs of 2025, with China taking the lead. “Global renewable energy growth is unstoppable.” Awarded the No. 1 Breakthrough of the Year.

 

On a list typically dominated by groundbreaking achievements in fundamental physics, life sciences, astronomy, and other hard‑science fields, why was new energy—far from being a cutting‑edge technology—ranked as the “top breakthrough”?

 

The journal Science explains that, to date, the story of new energy is not one of “new technologies,” but rather one of scale. It has not only ushered in the most profound structural transformation of the energy system since the Industrial Revolution, but has also reshaped humanity’s fundamental understanding of how the world operates.

 

Half a century ago, the United States produced niche solar panels for spacecraft; today, China manufactures far superior, more affordable, and staggering quantities of these products for the entire world. In the past, people embraced renewable energy out of moral and environmental responsibility, at a higher cost; now, the real driving force is lower prices and greater energy security.

 

This transformation is the most significant breakthrough.

 

This assessment echoes the views of a Chinese entrepreneur in the new energy and green technology sectors who has long been on the front lines of the industry.

 

At the end of 2024, during the “2024 CCTV Finance New Year’s Eve Address,” Zhang Lei, Chairman of Envision Group, offered a judgment on China’s new energy sector that was framed in broader historical and civilizational terms:

 

“China’s new energy technologies will surely become the country’s fifth great invention, ushering in a new era of global prosperity and a sustainable future.”

 

Zhang Lei stated that knowledge and energy are the “two wheels” driving human civilization. The four great inventions—papermaking, printing, gunpowder, and the compass—transformed the dissemination of knowledge and our understanding of space, while new‑energy technologies have reshaped the other wheel of civilization: energy itself. China’s expansion in the new‑energy sector is a process of co‑creating added value and expanding the overall pie. New‑energy technologies serve as a key, unlocking vast untapped reservoirs of wind and solar power in countries around the world and generating productive forces that did not exist before.

 

The photo shows Zhang Lei of Farvision delivering a New Year’s Eve speech on CCTV Finance.

 

01

China is the core driving force behind this breakthrough.

 

Science magazine asserts that by 2025, the growth of renewable energy will have reached an “unstoppable” pace, marking the most significant scientific and technological breakthrough in the global energy sector.

 

Since the Industrial Revolution, human society has relied on “ancient solar energy” to power its activities—energy captured by plants hundreds of millions of years ago, stored in fossil fuels such as oil and coal, and subsequently extracted from the earth by humankind.

 

However, in recent years, the balance of the energy transition has clearly begun to tilt in favor of energy derived from the sun. Renewable energy—most of which is directly or indirectly sourced from sunlight, including wind power driven by solar radiation—has outpaced conventional energy sources on multiple fronts.

 

Caption: Solar power has surpassed coal-fired electricity for the first time.

Source: Science Magazine

 

According to data from the energy think tank Ember, in 2024, renewable energy surpassed coal-fired power for the first time worldwide, becoming the leading source of electricity generation. At the same time, solar and wind power are expanding so rapidly that they can meet all of the global increase in electricity demand. In most regions around the world, wind and solar photovoltaic have already become the cheapest sources of electricity.

 

This means that renewable energy is no longer a marginal alternative; it has truly become a major pillar of the global energy mix and the dominant solution, decisively outpacing fossil fuels.

 

Science argues that, in this transformation, China has emerged as the primary engine. China’s robust industrial powerhouse is the key driver behind it all.

 

After years of patient development, China now holds a dominant position in the global production of renewable energy technologies. Eighty percent of the world’s solar cells, 70 percent of wind turbines, and 70 percent of lithium batteries are manufactured in China, at prices so low that few can compete.

 

In 2024 alone, China’s newly added solar and wind power capacity is equivalent to roughly 100 nuclear power plants. Ultra-high-voltage transmission lines are extending thousands of kilometers from the western deserts, delivering electricity to eastern cities.

 

As output surged, prices plummeted, and demand soared in response. The continuous expansion of production capacity further drove down costs and boosted demand, creating a virtuous cycle: renewable energy technologies have grown into a major industry, now accounting for more than 10% of China’s economy. In many parts of the world, wind and solar power have become the cheapest forms of energy.

 

 

02

Changing China, and changing the world.

 

The wave of technological innovation surging from Chinese factories has not only reshaped China’s energy landscape but also redefined its physical environment. Over the past several decades, China’s rapid development has led to severe air pollution and massive carbon emissions, which to this day still exceed the combined totals of all developed countries.

 

Today, solar panels blanket deserts and the sun-drenched Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, while towering 300-meter‑high wind turbines guard coastlines and rolling hills. Over the past decade, China’s solar power generation has increased more than twentyfold, and its installed solar and wind capacity is now sufficient to supply electricity to the entire United States.

 

Caption: A hillside covered with photovoltaic panels.

Source: Science

 

China’s rapidly expanding exports of green technologies are also reshaping the rest of the world. Europe has long been a key customer, while countries in the Global South are increasingly purchasing Chinese solar panels, batteries, and wind turbines—driven both by market considerations and by a growing desire for energy independence.

 

Take Pakistan as an example: the Russia-Ukraine conflict has driven up global natural gas and electricity prices. Between 2022 and 2024, Pakistan’s imports of Chinese solar panels increased fivefold, helping to address many households’ lighting needs.

 

In South Africa, aging and unreliable coal-fired power plants have sparked a similar shift; in Ethiopia, as droughts intensify and weaken hydropower capacity, solar and wind energy have also been rapidly adopted.

 

In 2024, China’s green energy export sector reached nearly US$180 billion, making clean energy more affordable for countries around the globe. This revolution is now spreading worldwide.

 

Science magazine argues that new energy technologies not only help these countries reduce greenhouse gas emissions but also alleviate poverty and transform lives.

 

In his New Year’s Eve address on China Central Television, Zhang Lei also pointed out that global poverty is largely rooted in energy poverty. During the fossil‑fuel era, the distribution of oil, natural gas, and coal has been highly uneven, leaving the vast majority of countries dependent on imports and turning energy costs into a ceiling on economic development.

 

Meanwhile, sunlight and wind are available in nearly every country. Technology and equipment have become key means of harnessing renewable energy.

 

Zhang Lei once painted a vivid picture of this reality: when a village or town in Africa or Southeast Asia gains access to a microgrid powered by wind, solar, and energy storage for the first time, the benefits extend far beyond lower electricity bills. They encompass an entire trajectory of economic development—ranging from mobile phones, air conditioners, and refrigerators to food processing and garment manufacturing—and translate into improved employment, higher incomes, and upgraded consumption patterns. Once such a new‑energy system is in place, the gears of industrialization begin to turn.

 

This is also why the journal Science has repeatedly noted in its commentary that China’s new‑energy technologies are providing reliable, affordable energy to millions of households across Europe, South Asia, and the Global South, thereby reshaping the development trajectories of countries in the Global South.

The photo shows wind turbines gradually rising along both sides of Laos’ Ho Chi Minh Trail. Green energy is lighting up the villages and igniting hope among the people.

 

 

03

Technological progress will continue to drive growth.

 

The journal Science emphasizes that, in the future, advances in new energy technologies will continue to drive growth.

 

Among these, perovskite solar cells can be stacked with silicon to boost efficiency; longer wind turbine blades and floating offshore wind power will expand their application scope; in the field of energy storage, future developments may include vanadium redox flow batteries, more affordable sodium-ion batteries, and zinc–air batteries with higher energy density.

 

Zhang Lei also stated that a new coal industry, a new oil industry, and a new power grid built on renewable energy will surely usher in a bright future for the energy sector. If humanity’s energy consumption were to increase by another 100 or even 1,000 times, we would achieve even greater prosperity.

 

Renewable energy is evolving from a technology into a defining civilizational paradigm. Science magazine regards this pivotal transition in 2025 as a starting point, not an endpoint.

 

 

 

 

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Reference:

 

[1]https://www.science.org/content/article/breakthrough-2025

 

[2] Farizon Technology Group: Zhang Lei: China’s New Energy, Global New Prosperity

 

[3]https://www.xinhuanet.com/20251219/485284353d924001bf241880439687ba/c.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com

 

[4]https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20251219A04HLB00