Renewable Energy in the Chinese News Media: A Comparative Study and Policy Implications

Abstract

After decades of development, China has become the world’s largest producer, exporter and installer of solar panels, wind turbines and electric vehicles, as well as the world’s biggest investor in renewable energy. Communicating renewable energy issues to the public plays an important role in enhancing the wider understanding of renewables and gaining public support for the government’s energy policy. Based on a detailed analysis of media coverage in China’s general media, i.e., Guangming Daily and Economic Daily, and energy sector industrial media, i.e., the China Energy News, from 2017 to 2023, this study explores how renewable energies are communicated to the Chinese public before and after the government’s announcement of its dual carbon goals. It finds that (1) renewable energy is often discussed in the wider category of new energy in the Chinese media; (2) solar, wind and hydropower energy are most prominent; (3) economic frames dominated the coverage of the renewables, followed by political and environmental frames; (4) benefits of renewable energy are far more often represented than risks by the media, particularly in their economic and political dimensions; (5) the general media tends to show more support than the media of the energy industry does, in that it reports more returns from renewable energy; (6) since the proposal of the dual carbon goals, more political discourse has been integrated into the discourse of energy and environmental policies in the energy industrial media than in the general media. The study concludes by discussing the implications of the findings for energy policy and public understanding of renewable energy in China.

1. Introduction

The energy revolution has transformed both politics and the economy. Like coal did in the nineteenth century and oil did in the twentieth century, renewables may reshape international politics and economy in the twenty-first century. In September 2020, Chinese President Xi Jinping made a speech in the general debate of the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly, announcing China’s commitment to adopting more robust policies and measures so that its carbon emissions would peak by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. This emphasizes China’s endeavors in the global collective campaign against climate change. In recent years, China has introduced various policies at home to mitigate the effects of climate change and has actively participated in multilateral actions in the international community.

The policy documents issued by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Chinese national government showcased the importance of the goals of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality (“the dual carbon goals”), viewing them as an inevitable choice to address environmental constraints and to realize the sustainable development [1]. The documents integrated carbon peaking and carbon neutrality into China’s overall economic and social development. Therefore, the dual carbon goals also serve as a key entrance to understanding China’s current environmental and energy policies.

In all the related sectors, a far-reaching transition in the use of energy is crucial in addressing the issue. At the national level, it is closely connected not only with a country’s economic development but also with national security strategies. At the global level, it is linked to global environmental governance. Conscious of taking responsibility as a developing country, China has adopted a more active, pragmatic, and open attitude to energy transition. After decades of development, China has become the world’s largest producer, exporter and installer of solar panels, wind turbines and electric vehicles, and it accounted for over 45 percent of global investment in renewable energy in 2017 [2] (p. 16). Further statistics show that China has been by far the biggest investor in renewables capacity in the past decade, committing USD 758 billion between 2010 and the first half of 2019, with the U.S. second, committing USD 356 billion, and Japan third, with USD 202 billion [3].

In addition to policy guidance for the industry sector, communicating renewable energy issues to the public plays an important role in enhancing the wider understanding of renewables and gaining public support for the government’s energy policy. Media plays a critical role, even a central role, in shaping societal consensus and mobilizing policy support [4]. It frames public discourse and influences perceptions, thereby guiding public opinion and promoting advocacy [5]. A previous study argued that media coverage is interpreted as an indicator of the extent to which energy scenarios are a matter of public debate [6]. The media’s function in the policy process underscores this paper’s significance of a media analysis in understanding China’s energy sector.

Unfortunately, however, few scholars have touched upon the communication issues in this regard in the New Energy Age of China, even though much has been achieved and discussed in technological advances, the industrial development of renewable energy, and the evolution of China’s energy policy. Addressing this gap is essential to ensure that the advancements in renewable energy are matched by informed public discourse and support.

This paper aims to contribute to this area: it explores how renewable energy has been communicated in the Chinese news media in the context of new energy. It compares the coverage in China’s mainstream general newspapers and the coverage in the news media of the energy industry before and after “the dual carbon goals” were pledged. The trajectory of the changing media frames for the energy issues in the two types of media indicates the intersection of the media and politics on energy issues in China. The study concludes by discussing the implications of its findings for China’s energy policy and public understanding.

2. The Development of Renewable Energy and Its Policies in China

In 2009, China became the world’s largest producer of carbon dioxide (CO₂) and the largest energy consumer [7]. The great consumption of non-renewable energy has been very costly and caused serious environmental pollution, which has compelled the development of alternative renewable energy sources [8]. The process of legalizing renewable energy in China began in 2005 with the Renewable Energy Law, which was amended in 2009. It was believed to be a significant step towards establishing a legal framework in which the development and use of renewable energy were promoted [9]. Chapter I, article 2 of this law defined renewable energy as non-fossil energy sources, namely, wind, solar, hydropower, biomass, geothermal, ocean and other non-fossil energy sources, and excluded inefficient fuel sources such as straw, fuelwood and manure [10].

The Chinese government had previously set targets for energy use and the control of pollution between 2005 and 2010: energy consumption per unit of GDP would be reduced by 20%, and sulfur dioxide (SO₂) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) emissions would in 2010 be reduced by 10% below the totals for 2005. In 2007, the Medium- and Long-Term Renewable Energy Development Plan [11] was published, requiring renewable sources to take up 10% of total energy consumption by 2010 and reach 15% by 2020. During this period, China made remarkable progress in reducing energy intensity. In 2019, China’s non-fossil energy accounted for 15.3% of primary energy consumption [12]. In 2020, the 14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of Renewable Energy continuously set the goal that by 2025, non-fossil energy consumption would account for about 20% of total energy consumption, and renewable energy would account for more than 50% of the increase in primary energy consumption. In the document entitled Energy in China’s New Era [13], China set firm targets for reforming the country’s energy consumption, building a clean and diversified energy supply system, and strengthening international cooperation in this field. After decades of development, China now plays a crucial role in promoting renewable energy (RE) globally since the country is anticipated to be generating almost half of its electricity from renewables by 2030 and to have installed nearly 60% of global RE capacity by 2028 [14].

Policies have also been driving the energy industry in China. New energy involves many fields, such as electrical power, transportation, HAVC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning), refrigeration and so on. China is considered a pioneer in enhancing energy efficiency and promoting clean technology, not only in the Emerging East but in the world [15]. Policies such as feed-in tariffs and renewable energy subsidies have played a significant role in guiding investment and financing [16]. RE enterprises have recently observed substantial participation in China’s Go Global strategy. Since the early 2000s, investments by Chinese organizations have accounted for around USD 216 billion in power plants abroad, of which roughly 48% has been allocated to RE projects, mainly focusing on hydroelectric power [17]. For example, with a shared concern over enhancing energy security and increasing renewable energy sources, energy cooperation, mainly in renewable energy, has become one of the pillars of the relationship between the EU and China [18]. Chinese Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has prominently targeted the energy sector in EU member states, highlighting their significance as key destinations for investments in renewables [19]. The common focus on energy has also led both sides to adopt an environmental stewardship frame in policy priorities and bilateral collaboration, which emphasizes the sustainability of the ecological system rather than simply affordability and availability and considers both the local and global impacts of energy consumption [19].

The proposal of the dual carbon goal strategy has considerably strengthened the development of the renewable energy industry. With the development of renewable energy in China and the implementation of the dual carbon goal strategy, the trend for China’s mainstream energy to transfer from fossil fuels to energy-based renewables is irreversible. At the same time, the large-scale use of renewable energy will also bring risks and problems, such as high consumption and safety hazards. How China’s energy transformation can further develop and how to obtain more public support for the policy are important issues worth exploring.

3. Framing Renewable Energy in the News

Many scholars have drawn on research into the roles of the media in the mass communication of renewables. The expertise in energy issues sets up a barrier to understanding, and thus, the news media acts as a curator to display advanced information, a channel whereby the masses can learn about the ongoing developments or a platform to discuss its pros and cons and reach understanding. Scheer viewed energy issues as a matter of public debate [6]. He found that energy featured in the media more frequently when policymakers took the initiative of raising the topic and that whether or not the topic is embedded in controversy was influenced by the patterns of media representation. Nuortimo et al. took the media as a reflection of public opinion and measured how neutral and positive sentiment towards solar power was displayed, expecting positive industrial trends in response [20]. With the dual carbon goals, Jiang and Raza argued that political discourse was often used in Chinese energy policies from 2000 to 2022 [21]; they analyzed its functions in promoting new energy sources. Xu et al. examined how the tone of the government-controlled media could influence the stock market and found that the positive information disseminated by the Chinese government-controlled media shaped public opinion and significantly influenced the new energy stock returns [22].

Some studies have looked into the media coverage of new energy, such as solar energy, biomass energy and, particularly, nuclear energy [20,23,24,25]. While the debate over nuclear energy details its environmental benefits and concerns about possible accidents, studies have shown how media coverage has affected public attitudes and acceptance. Koerner found that the stigmatization of nuclear energy in the American media was closely tied to the vacillations of the public [26]. However, the Chinese media have tended to be supportive of nuclear power as an energy source and, therefore, helped to mobilize public support for policies to promote it [24,27].

Media framing is often used to explore how renewable energy topics are selected, presented and interpreted during the communication process. Previous studies have found that the framing of this topic is influenced by structural conditions, such as reliance on conventional energy resources, the presence of renewable power and the density of renewable energy installations [28,29]. Significant incidents, like the one in Fukushima, can also act as “focusing events”, shifting media framing [30]. Researchers have discussed the use of media framing in shaping public perceptions and identified various frames employed by the media. The study by Qu et al. conducted a content analysis of news items on Chinese professional internet platforms to examine how information about bio-energy development and policies was disseminated [23]. They found that the internet serves as an effective medium for promoting knowledge and information, while the portrayal is largely positive. Djerf-Pierre et al. examined how Australian and Swedish newspapers presented renewable energy as an environmental, political, scientific, economic or civil society issue [31]. They found that framing was also closely dependent on the domestication of the discussion of renewable energy.

While frames of topic dimensions are used to explore the content of media coverage, risk–benefit framing is also used to indicate attitudes toward energy issues. Media framing significantly affects the public acceptance of renewable energy technologies, subsequently influencing policymaking and technology adoption [32]. The media describe how mental attitudes are shown by weighing the risks (or costs) and benefits of a particular energy source [33]. Previous studies have concluded that the perceptions of benefits [34] had a positive correlation with the public’s acceptance of nuclear energy and fostered government policy support, while perceptions of risks [27,35,36] tend to have a negative impact on public acceptance. Therefore, favorability in the coverage can be regarded as an indicator of acceptance and a further measure of the public’s attitude toward new energy. This may vary in different countries. For example, Clarke et al. conducted a U.S. national survey to investigate the framing effects on the public opinion of hydraulic fracturing [37]. The study revealed that framing unconventional oil and gas extraction as “shale oil or gas development” rather than “fracking” resulted in more positive attitudes and boosted greater support, regardless of political ideology. Wang et al. explored how the Chinese media reported nuclear energy from the perspective of public acceptance and found that the Chinese mainstream media tended to emphasize pro-nuclear opinions, which are aligned closely with the government’s policies [38].

Evidently, then, an inseparable relationship links the media coverage of renewable energy with government energy policies and public attitudes toward new energy. Unique social-political and economic factors can influence the media coverage of renewable energy. How does the dual carbon target strategy of the Chinese government shape the media coverage of the development and industrial changes of renewable energy in the context of China? What are the similarities and differences in China’s general media and energy industry media coverage of renewable energy before and after the proposal of the dual carbon goal strategy? These are important questions that should not remain unanswered since they are very significant for understanding the public communication and policy implications of renewable energy in China. This study aims to answer these research questions.

4. Methodology

4.1. Media Selection and Sampling Method

For the general media, the study chooses two newspapers, Guangming Daily and Economic Daily. The reasons for the selection were: First, they are both state-owned authoritative general daily newspapers. The former is affiliated with the CPC Central Committee and the latter with the State Council. They serve diverse audiences, including intellectuals, officials and the general public. Second, previous literature on the Chinese media coverage of energy issues, e.g., [38,39], and a pilot study also tell us that they are significant in reporting energy-related issues, and reports of the energy economy are often included in the economic news. For the energy industry’s media, the study chose the China Energy News, an economic newspaper for the energy industry supervised and organized by the People’s Daily. It is the most professional platform for disseminating information that serves the nation’s energy strategy, energy policy and macro management. It is also the first general energy industry economic newspaper in China, targeting and serving the whole energy industry chain [40].

This study used a keyword search of “new energy OR renewable energy OR clean energy OR green energy” in the dataset of WiseSearch to obtain news reports from the newspapers mentioned above. (A pilot study shows that in many cases, renewable energy was to be directly found in the bigger category of new energy in the Chinese media. Therefore, the study includes news items about new energy as its theme.) Taking 22 September 2020 as the pivotal point, when the dual carbon goals were announced, the study examined media coverage in the three years before and after this date, that is, from 22 September 2017 to 21 September 2023.

Based on the keyword search, 22,327 news items in total were collected in the first round. Then, the study limited the data to those news items with more than one-quarter of the content relating to new energy and renewables. Consequently, 788 items from the Guangming Daily, 1872 from the Economic Daily, and 10,393 from the China Energy News were selected. Since the study aimed to compare the media framing of renewables between the general and industrial media outlets, it further sampled the collected news items to make the volume similar and comparable. This study selected one in every two news items from Guangming Daily, one in every five from Economic Daily, and one in every fourteen from China Energy News to proportionally match the volume in the two types of media. Finally, 769 news items from general newspapers and 737 articles from the industrial newspaper were chosen for detailed coding and analysis.

4.2. Coding Schemes and Intercoder Reliability

This study adopted the five frames, i.e., economic frames, environmental frames, science and technology frames, political frames and civil society frames, that were used by Djerf-Pierre et al. in their study on the media framing of renewable energy [31]. The phrase ‘economic frames’ is used here to refer to industrial opportunity and cost, household burden and opportunity, lack of infrastructure or funding and criticism of something as a business. Environmental frames refer to the benefits brought by new energy in combining economic development and environmental protection, the unsustainability of fossil energy or the risk from new energy of causing environmental problems. Science and technology frames are used to describe technological progress, distrust in science, or debate seeking consensus on new energy. Political frames are used to refer to the various perspectives and viewpoints within the legitimation, distrust of politicians, objections to government actions, responsibility to combat exploitation and international political cooperation. Civil society frames are used to include consumers’ demands for green energy, ethical and moral obligations in developing new energy, new energy’s impact on traditional ways of life and the marketing of renewables as greenwashing.

Other than the dimensional frames, the risk–benefit frame is also used in this study to indicate the attitudes toward renewable energy. Benefits include affordability, energy security, national self-reliance and lower carbon emissions. Risks, in contrast, refer to negative consequences. If the risks and benefits were not mentioned or were discussed with the same degree of attention, the item is classified as “neutral or balanced”. The study also added dummy variables to outline the involvement of domestic and international regions, as well as types of new energy sources encompassing solar, wind, hydropower, hydrogen, new forms of natural gas, nuclear, biomass, geothermal, chemical and ocean power. Some news stories focus on overall energy policies or the general energy landscape. These are allocated to the “renewable as general” category.

The domestic regions of China are its northern, southwestern, eastern, southern, northeastern and central regions. News items that do not specify regions are categorized as “nationwide”, such as those introducing a particular industry or a technology, discussing national energy policies and analyzing multi-regional landscapes involving more than three regions. As regards international regions, the world is divided into China’s neighboring countries, Asian countries excluding neighbors, Europe, Africa, North America, South America and Oceania. “Global as a whole concept or with no country specified” is used when covering global conferences, the global energy market involving more than three regions or multilateral cooperation such as a review of what has been achieved by the Belt and Road Initiative. Items without any mention of domestic or foreign areas are accordingly coded as “not applicable”.

Then, 5% of the overall samples were randomly selected by SPSS, and those new items were coded by two coders separately. The inter-coder reliability of Krippendorf’s Alpha coefficient on all variables was over 0.83.

In addition, to supplement the study, one face-to-face interviews with experts in renewable energy were conducted.

5. Findings

5.1. Nature of Coverage

Figure 1 and Figure 2 illustrate the changing volume and percentage of media coverage of new energy and renewables in the Chinese media. It is apparent that, since the pledging of the dual carbon goals, the mainstream general media have rapidly increased their representation of new energy and renewables. This reflects the media’s efforts to focus the public’s attention on renewable energy and its pivotal role in achieving the objective of sustainable development. The change in focus shows how important renewable energy sources are in combating climate change and furthering the goals of environmental protection, which matches China’s heightened attention to the policy of promoting green development. The China Energy News, however, maintained close attention to new energy and renewables during the six-year period under study, though the volume of coverage has remained relatively stable and did not change much before or after the dual carbon goals were proposed. One possible explanation for this is that as the first and most professional newspaper in the energy industry, it has always treated renewables as a salient topic even before the announcement of the dual carbon goals (Interpersonal communication with a renewable energy expert on 3 April 2024 in Beijing).

Among all the news items, three renewables, namely, solar, wind and hydropower energy, were the most prominent (Figure 3). Even so, more than half of the news items did not focus on specific types of energy but rather on the overall energy landscape and industries, including new energy vehicles and batteries, as well as technological innovation in energy storage and transmission.

These findings, to some extent, match the use of energy by Chinese people. According to the statistical bulletin on national economic and social development issued annually by China’s National Bureau of Statistics, from 2017 to 2023, conventional thermal generation declined from 72% to 66% of China’s total generation but still accounted for more than two-thirds of its share. Among all the new energy sources, hydroelectricity generation experienced a slight decline but still accounted for over 15%, nuclear power generation remained stable at approximately 5%, wind power generation increased from 5% to 9%, while solar power generation rose from 1% to 6% [41,42]. Compared to the coverage salience of energy types shown in Figure 3, it can be seen that the rapid growth of solar power and wind power was given a disproportionate amount of media attention over hydroelectricity and nuclear power. Photovoltaic power (one major means of using solar power) and wind power were frequently mentioned together because their requirements for development are similar.

China witnessed an increase of 12.4 times in cumulative installed capacity of wind power by 2017 over its total for 2008 and an increase of 534 times in photovoltaics, leading to the phenomenon known as “chasing the wind and pursuing the sun” [43]. The construction of energy bases, green financial investment and technological innovation, together with their role in green development, are popular topics in the coverage of both types of newspapers.

There have been fewer technological and policy changes in hydropower and nuclear power over the past few years. Therefore, the Chinese media have maintained a substantial but not prominent share of coverage of hydropower and nuclear power.

The emphasis on solar power and wind power is not only related to the rapid changes in recent years but also to the development priorities of the national strategy. In 2021, China proposed the 14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of Renewable Energy [44]. In the section on energy development, the plan emphasizes the need to promote the centralized development of wind and photovoltaic power generation bases, thus advancing the distributed development of wind and photovoltaic power generation and coordinating the integrated development of hydropower, wind and solar energy comprehensive bases. These account for three of the six energy development sub-goals (the others are the diversified development of biomass energy, the large-scale development of geothermal energy and the demonstration development of marine energy). Moreover, when proposing the goals of general generation, the plan sets a specific target of doubling the generative capacity of wind power and solar power.

It can also be seen that the energy industry newspapers tended to be more diverse in covering new energy sources and generated more professional content in the reports.

The regions that were most frequently reported in relation to new energy and renewables were Northern China, Southwestern China and Eastern China, followed by Southern China. Central and northeastern China were given the least attention (Figure 4). The media salience of the region echoes the National Renewable Energy Development’s “14th Five-Year Plan” [44], which sets regional targets for the distribution of new energy resources based on comparative advantages.

According to the National Energy Administration, the provinces with the highest hydroelectricity generation are Sichuan, Yunnan and Hubei. The top five provinces in terms of solar power generation are Hebei, Ningxia, Qinghai, Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang [45]. Meanwhile, the top five provinces in terms of wind power generation are Inner Mongolia, Hebei, Xinjiang, Jiangsu and Shanxi. This shows that Northwest and North China, which are rich in wind and solar energy resources, and Southwest China, which is rich in hydropower resources, received most of the attention in the media coverage.

Furthermore, the data also indicate a greater emphasis on energy production when it comes to specific provinces. In talking about consumption or reporting from the perspective of industries such as new energy vehicles, both types of media adopted a “nationwide” perspective, accounting for nearly half of the total.

In both newspaper types, Europe received the most attention (Figure 5). Stories dealing with Europe show that as a huge energy market and a driver of green transition, Europe has invested heavily in new energy projects, but it has also encountered many internal controversies in terms of development. In 2022, news stories related to Europe described the use of PPAs (Power Purchase Agreements) in new energy sources as a solution for energy transmission, whose price increases could lead to more financial costs imposed on European countries [46]. In 2019, the European Commission introduced the European Green Deal [47], but it is also pointed out that some European countries with high fossil energy consumption still have different views on sharing the burden of carbon emission reduction [48,49].

In addition, China’s neighbors, particularly Japan, in the wake of the nuclear leak, have attracted extensive media attention. It is noteworthy that the concepts of global community and joint efforts have also been highlighted in recent years with the global conferences on climate change and green transition discussions.

5.2. Dimensional Framing of New Energy and Renewables

Figure 6 shows that economic frames accounted for the highest percentage of coverage of new and renewable energy in the general media and the energy sector industrial media, followed by political and environmental frames. However, after the dual-carbon target was proposed, political framing rose in both types of media and was particularly noticeable in the energy sector media. Terms such as “guided by the dual-carbon goal” were used frequently, and there was more discussion of the significance of the reported subjects in terms of promoting carbon neutrality. For instance, Dong reports on the popularity of the domestic PV market in China, citing the benefits of this market in accomplishing the dual-carbon goal [50]. Similarly, Ma reports on the recent achievements of the First Engineering Bureau of Water Resources and Hydropower of China, particularly its newly launched PV project [51]. Such frames reflect how the political discourse, including the “dual carbon goals”, is integrated into the discourse of energy and environmental policies. Compared to previous terms, such as the Blue-Sky Protection Campaign, the dual-carbon target places higher demands on quality development. This political framing is, therefore, useful in raising public awareness when reporting on energy issues. Moreover, the energy sector industrial newspaper also paid more attention to follow-up policies than the general newspapers did, reporting, for example, a plan for carbon peaking in the sector of architecture [52], Yunnan’s release of a carbon peaking implementation plan [53] and so on. This is evidence that industry newspapers are more detailed in policy discourse than general newspapers.

In both types of mainstream newspapers, the environmental frame was not dominant but acted as an important indicator in investigating how the media weigh the ecological effects of the energy transition. It can be seen that the frame was more obvious in the general newspapers, where various related topics might be expected. It also shows that the importance of environmental benefits was not mentioned as much in the industrial newspapers as in the general newspapers. For example, in July 2021, China’s carbon market was first launched after a ten-year consultation period. Liu framed it by saying that it could help accelerate the realization of green low-carbon development [54], while China Energy News emphasized its benefits in optimizing resource allocation [55].

News stories in a frame of science and technology occupy a small proportion of space and have shown a subtle decline in both types of media, with not much difference showing between them. A frame stressing risk was usually applied when discussing Europe’s and Japan’s hesitation over developing nuclear energy [46,48,56]. The difference in the civil society frame is not remarkable since only a small proportion of stories focused on this dimension. A slight drop in the proportion of industrial newspapers was observed, mainly in connection with the effort to alleviate poverty before 2020. Before China’s announcement of poverty elimination in 2020, in the context of civil society, the development of photovoltaic power as a solution to poverty alleviation in underdeveloped areas had been constantly mentioned. Within this framework, a small number of reports mainly focused on several aspects: wind and solar energy to help residents in less developed areas to improve living standards, clean energy to ensure residential heating in winter and the impact of new energy vehicles on residents’ lives [57,58].

According to the Chi-square test, the correlation between the dimensional frames in the reports of general newspapers and the introduction of the dual carbon goals was not significant (X² = 8.472, df = 4, p = 0.076). In contrast, a significant correlation was observed in the energy industry’s newspaper, indicating a clear difference in reporting on new energy and renewables after addressing the dual carbon goals (X² = 31.266, df = 4, p < 0.001). This finding further supports the argument that the setting up of the dual carbon goals has led the Chinese media in the energy sector to pay more attention to economic and political frames.

Table 1. Frequently repeated words in the Chinese media coverage of new energy before and after the announcement of the dual carbon goals.

	Before the Dual Carbon Goals		After the Dual Carbon Goals
	General Newspapers	Industrial Newspapers	General Newspapers	Industrial Newspapers
1	energy	energy	energy	energy
2	development	development	development	development
3	new energy	project	green	project
4	vehicles	China	China	new energy
5	technology	technology	industry	China
6	industry	electricity	technology	technology
7	China	market	construction	electricity
8	construction	company	new energy	market
9	enterprise	enterprise	implement	enterprise
10	project	construction	our country	construction
11	national	new energy	national	industry
12	clean	photovoltaic	ecology	implement
13	innovation	implement	promote	power grid
14	economy	power grid	boost	company
15	our country	industry	economy	our country

shows the changes in the most frequently used words in the media coverage. Obviously, we can see that the introduction of the dual carbon goals had a greater impact on the energy industry’s newspaper than on the general newspaper. Even though the industrial newspaper maintained a focus on providing information about the energy industries, it took the initiative to include more political discourses and national strategies in its news coverage. The general newspapers, however, tended to diversify their topics and emphasize ecological benefits from a more ecological standpoint rather than a directly policy-driven one.

5.3. Risk and Benefit Framing of New Energy and Renewables

In the general newspapers, both risk and benefit frames rose after the announcement of the dual carbon goals. In the industrial newspaper, those in the benefit frame decreased while risk frames increased (Figure 7). A Chi-square test demonstrates that the correlation between the risk–benefit frame and the introduction of the dual carbon goals in the general newspaper is at a significant level (X² = 9.106, df = 2, p < 0.05). However, such a correlation in the energy industrial newspaper is not significant (X² = 3.532, df = 2, p = 0.171). This suggests a remarkable turn in the general newspapers’ attitudes toward new energy and renewables.

Moreover, Chi-square tests indicate that in both types of newspapers, the risk–benefit frame correlated significantly with the variation in dimensional frames (

Table 2. Cross-tables of dimensional frames and risk–benefit frame in Chinese media coverage of new energy.

General Newspapers (X2 = 61.59, df = 8, p < 0.001)
	Economic Frames	Political Frames	Environmental Frames	Science and Technological Frames	Civil Society Frames
Risks	6.7%	3.7%	0.9%	0.5%	0.3%
Benefits	21.7%	20.7%	13.7%	5.2%	2.0%
Neutral/balanced	14.7%	5.0%	1.6%	3.0%	0.4%
Industrial Newspapers (X2 = 60.5, df = 8, p < 0.001)
	Economic Frames	Political Frames	Environmental Frames	Science and Technological Frames	Civil Society Frames
Risks	9.8%	4.9%	1.4%	0.5%	0.1%
Benefits	25.9%	14.2%	5.7%	5.4%	3.4%
Neutral/balanced	21.4%	4.7%	0.3%	1.8%	0.4%

). In all the dimensional frames, both media focused more on benefits than risks.

Most benefits lay in economic frames, which focused on enriching the energy structure and promoting industrial optimization and upgrading. For instance, a few stories reported the use of clean energy in promoting the industrial upgrading of Shanxi Province, a traditional conventional energy province, e.g., [59,60]. More risk framing appeared in the industrial media than in the general media. Since the policies for subsidizing new energy vehicles, wind power and photovoltaic power generation mainly declined after the dual carbon goals were proposed, China Energy News, which focused more on sector development, tended to discuss these risks. In contrast, the general newspapers showed a more positive attitude in support of national strategies. Du and Han compared the risk–benefit framing in China’s national and local newspapers and found that national newspapers tended to show more benefits and support while local newspapers tended to frame it in terms of risks or were neutral [27]. The findings of this study also supplement existing research by pointing out that general newspapers tend to adopt a more positive reporting stance, while industrial newspapers more frequently employ neutral or risky frames through objective discussions regarding the shortcomings of the energy industry at present.

6. Conclusions and Discussion

This study aims to understand how renewable energy issues are communicated to the Chinese public and particularly to explore how the proposal of China’s dual carbon goals has influenced media coverage in three mainstream Chinese newspapers: two general newspapers and one energy sector newspaper. To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine how Chinese media has represented renewable energy, particularly through a comparative approach. Given the vital role of the dual carbon goals in China’s energy policy, this study is imperative.

This study finds that, in China, renewable energy often appears within the coverage of new energy, giving solar energy, wind energy and hydropower the highest visibility. The media coverage of renewable energy is related to the regional targets for the layout of new energy resources in government plans such as the 14th Five-Year Plan [44]. Europe’s own emphasis and development in the new energy sector, as well as the Sino-European cooperation in the energy sector, also make Europe highly visible in the Chinese media coverage of renewable energy. In fact, not only in the traditional media but also in Chinese social media, there has been a great deal of discussion on a green Europe in the energy sector under the influence of the European green deal [61].

In terms of dimensional framing, over time, both types of newspapers increasingly emphasized the economic and political framing of renewable energy; however, the energy industry’s newspaper was more influenced by the government’s dual-carbon strategy than general newspapers were. An investigation of the risk–benefit framing revealed that both types of media reported more benefits than risks, a finding similar to previous reporting on nuclear energy [38]. However, general media outlets tended to show more support for renewable energy by framing more returns than the energy sector media outlets did, and there was a significant correlation between the thematic dimension frames and the risk–benefit frames in both types of media. In addition, the general media tended to showcase more economic and environmental benefits.

The analysis of media coverage of renewable energy in this study reveals how renewable energy issues have been communicated to the Chinese public. It also indicates that the news media can play a role in mobilizing public support for the government’s energy policy preferences. In this study, our findings of the media’s emphasis on benefits rather than risks show its support in policy promotion. Findings from previous research also pointed out that both traditional and new energy enterprises in China are highly sensitive to negative media reports [62]. Therefore, the focus of mainstream media had a considerable indirect promotional impact on China’s energy transition by positively enhancing industry benefits. Certainly, to further understand the process of media mobilization of public support for energy policy, more analysis from the audience’s side is needed.

Overall, this study makes it clear that the dual carbon target, as a national strategy, has changed and continues to influence the way in which the mainstream Chinese media reports on renewable energy. General newspapers are shifting towards more in-depth coverage of developments in the new energy sector in support of national strategies. In contrast, the energy industry newspaper has adapted its discourse to be closer to the policy-driven discourse. This reflects the increasing importance of renewable energy in China’s national industrial structure.

This study contributed to the discussion by arguing that the general media, based on its vital role in shaping public opinion and fostering support for government initiatives, is increasingly trying to mobilize public support for government policies under dual carbon goals by highlighting positive benefits. In the meantime, the energy sector media, with its reader audience targeted at industry professionals, is guiding these experts to focus more on the dual carbon goals by aligning sector development with policy goals, especially in the political frames.

The media coverage discussed in this study, as an indicator of public understanding, has demonstrated people’s awareness of the benefits of renewable energy in industrial upgrading, technological innovation and environmental protection. The influence of government policies on the media coverage of energy issues [6] also exists in China’s general coverage of renewable energy and that of the energy industry media.

The characteristics of media coverage discussed in this study show that by emphasizing the benefits of renewable energy, the media show a willing stance to help the Chinese public understand the current situation, enhance scientific awareness and bolster public and professional support for the implementation of dual carbon-related policies, such as mobilizing support for governments’ fiscal investment in energy transition.

With the development of renewable energy in China and the implementation of the dual carbon strategy, China’s mainstream energy will shift from fossil fuels to mainly renewable energy. According to the dual carbon strategy, by 2060, the proportion of renewable energy in China will reach around 80%. Therefore, more policies favoring the development of renewable energy will be introduced, and, at the same time, addressing the risks of renewable energy will also promote the formulation of relevant policies and regulations in the management of the renewable energy industry.

The introduction of dual carbon goals has increased media consensus in their coverage of renewable energy, which is particularly evident in the general media. It can be argued that the discussion of renewable energy benefits is influenced by the government’s supportive stance, incorporating political discourse into newspaper coverage. Beyond understanding the media coverage, the study also helps to understand how media facilitates the transition to a sustainable energy future, along with China’s collective efforts under the dual carbon goals.