Let's talk about what's really powering global energy transitions. The world's largest CO2 emitter operates an energy infrastructure built fundamentally on coal—no way around it. Here's what the numbers show: roughly 56% of the planet's coal gets consumed in this region. Sounds massive? It is.

Now here's where it gets interesting. Everyone talks about the renewable energy boom and EV manufacturing acceleration. The narrative sounds clean, transformative even. But dig into the actual grid mix powering these facilities, and you hit a different reality. Coal plants are still the backbone fueling renewable panel production and battery manufacturing at scale. It's not a side story—it's the energy foundation beneath the entire operation.

The gap between what we're told and what physics actually shows us keeps widening. Marketing narratives move markets. Real-world energy systems move slower. And that matters when you're trying to understand global infrastructure transitions.