IN a twist few expected, it’s the developing world – not the wealthy nations – that’s now leading the global response to climate change.

For decades, international agreements assumed rich countries, responsible for most historical carbon emissions, would take the lead in cutting pollution and funding cleaner technologies. But at this year’s climate talks in Belem, Brazil, that logic seems to have flipped.

China’s rapid shift to renewable energy is staggering. Its carbon emissions appear to have peaked, thanks to vast investments in wind and solar power. Last year alone, China built enough new renewable capacity to match Europe and America combined. That clean-energy momentum is spreading across the Global South.

In Pakistan, solar panel imports from China have surged fivefold in two years, allowing households to generate their own electricity and reduce dependence on coal. India’s Tata Group is building massive new solar factories. In Jordan, small businesses are giving old electric vehicle batteries a “second life” as affordable solar storage. Countries from Brazil to Morocco are adopting similar innovations.

Meanwhile, wealthy nations are backsliding. US carbon and methane emissions are rising again amid rollbacks of renewable energy projects and climate monitoring. Europe faces its own political fatigue, though countries like Austria and Poland are quietly expanding solar and battery storage at record rates.

The moral contrast is stark: poorer nations, hit hardest by climate impacts, are now powering the clean-energy revolution the rich world once promised to lead. Yet this shift could bring hope. As one Brazilian diplomat put it, “China is coming up with solutions that are for everyone.”

If current trends continue, the future of affordable, sustainable energy – and perhaps of climate stability itself – may well be forged not in Washington or Brussels, but in Belem, Karachi and Chengdu.

Article by Climate Action St Austell (CASA)