Green technology

Chinese Green technology has been developing rapidly in response to consumer and government demands to reduce China's high pollution levels.

Green technology is key to the growth of most businesses over the next five years.

The development of Green Technology is yielding greater efficiency, lower costs, and higher productivity, as seen in electric vehicles, which offer significantly lower operating costs, improved performance, and enhanced safety.

Green Technology should give you more, not less, as a first priority. In setting priorities, this is the way: it removes all concerns and politics. In China today, green technology is reducing costs for the government, businesses, and consumers, helping to address high pollution levels.

Continue the Industrial Revolution

Our definition of Green Technology is the development of products and services that increase productivity and returns while reducing or replacing the use of products and practices that harm the health of our planet, its ecosystems, and its plants, animals, and people.

The process that began during the Industrial Revolution in the mid-18th century, driven by the use of fossil fuels, is now holding us back. The development and use of new technologies will see the next decade as crucial to world development as the Industrial Revolution in the mid-18th century.

New developments each week

Keeping up with Green Technology developments is challenging, given the significant investment required to develop new approaches and products each month. i.e., Car batteries; the general thinking is that they require rare metals, such as lithium and cobalt. This is no longer the case.

The issue for businesses and consumers is knowing which technology will give the greatest return on investment and when. It is no longer “if”.

e.g. China has the world's largest electric car and battery industry. This results in reduced costs, faster charging, and the removal of rare metals, such as lithium.

China is developing and deploying green technology.

China has some of the highest pollution levels in the world. This has driven the development and adoption of Green Technologies. The advantage Chinese businesses have over many parts of the world is their large domestic consumer market. The consumer market is demanding changes to reduce pollution, leading to significant investment in and development of Green Technology.

China does not have more Green Technology developers than the rest of the world. A large domestic market drives demand. Chinese businesses and consumers understand the changes, embrace them, and make purchases. e.g., one of the large petrol station companies in China is planning for the future, anticipating that demand for roadside fuel will greatly decline over the next five years. Plan for the changes while they still have a large customer base. What can we offer our customers when they no longer need fuel?

Innovation vs “more of the same”.

It is not good news from China. You need to separate the businesses in China that are bringing new ideas and products to market from those just copying existing products.

Businesses creating products that already exist are important. It allows China to meet a very large internal market, 1.4 billion people, in a fast-growing economy, which consumes products and services faster than anywhere else in the world. No one organisation can meet these demands.

The “more of the same” creates a comfort level that leads Chinese businesses to present the same ideas and products to overseas businesses, even when the technology has changed, e.g., Powerwall, which replaced lithium with sodium in its batteries. Sodium has been commercially available for the last few years. No one is offering the charge (early 2026), even though there are clear operational benefits to using sodium over lithium.

When working with Chinese suppliers, it can take a while to find the right products when you get into the details. “More of the same” vs the technology will last the lifetime of the investment.

Access to China has access to Chinese green technology.

Access to China has enabled Chinese staff to closely follow Green Technology's development in the Country over the last five years. Our access to Chinese databases includes numerous listings of various developments and products. If you are looking for Green Technology developments and products, please let us know; what you are looking for may already be available.

How to use this page

These links are grouped by common tasks. Where possible, we prioritise official sources and widely-used industry references.

If you are working on a time-sensitive issue (licensing, banking, tax, or compliance), always confirm requirements with a qualified local adviser.

China internet and ICP filing

• MIIT ICP filing system (beian.miit.gov.cn) — official ICP filing lookup / verification.
• CNNIC (China Internet Network Information Center) — domain and internet development resources.
• MIIT (Ministry of Industry and Information Technology) — policy and telecom / internet regulation.

Chinese search engines and webmaster resources

• Baidu Search Resource Platform (Baidu Webmaster)
• Shenma Webmaster
• Sogou — consumer search + input ecosystem.

Payments and e-commerce platforms

• Alipay (global)
• WeChat Pay
• Tmall (consumer marketplace)
• Taobao (consumer marketplace)
• JD.com (consumer marketplace)
• 1688 (B2B sourcing marketplace)

Chinese social media platforms

• WeChat (Weixin) — messaging, Official Accounts, Mini Programs.
• Weibo — public social media and brand visibility.
• Xiaohongshu (RED) — lifestyle, reviews, and social commerce.
• Douyin — short video and live commerce.
• Bilibili — video communities and youth culture.

Chinese e-Commerce platforms

• Tmall — brand-led B2C marketplace.
• Taobao — C2C and social commerce.
• JD.com — logistics-driven B2C platform.
• Pinduoduo — price-driven, group-buying commerce.
• 1688 — domestic B2B sourcing marketplace.

Trade bodies and organisations

• MOFCOM — Ministry of Commerce of the PRC.
• CCPIT — China Council for the Promotion of International Trade.
• China-Britain Business Council (CBBC)
• UK Department for Business & Trade

Business verification and company lookup

• National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System (GSXT) — official company registration lookup.
• Qichacha — commercial company data (useful for cross-checking).
• Tianyancha — commercial company data (useful for cross-checking).

Shipping and customs

• UK HMRC — export/import guidance and duties.
• China Customs — policies and announcements.
• Royal Mail — small parcel shipping reference.

Helpful tools from Access to China

• 🧪 Test a web page from China — quick visibility/performance checks.
• Contact Access to China — tell us what you are trying to achieve and we’ll suggest next steps.

Sourcing directly from the factories or the local wholesale market in China. Over the last 60 years, China has built its manufacturing base into one of the most successful in the world. Over the last 20 years, the growth of large-scale Chinese e-commerce and local social media has driven strong demand for high-quality local goods meeting international standards.

Changes in China

Over the last 60 years, China has built its manufacturing base into one of the most successful in the world.

For many years, you could purchase a Chinese consumer good at a considerable discount (over 75%) in Western countries compared to the price in a shop in China. This was due to;

• Few Chinese chain stores
• Local Stores without the purchasing power
• Exported goods have no sales tax
• Poor transport infrastructure
• Poor distribution within China
• Underdeveloped Chinese consumer market

Government investments followed, and changes followed.

Local Trading Changes in China starting 2010

This all started to change about 15 years ago, with phenomenal growth in China's mobile network, giving 80% of the Chinese population nationwide internet access in by 2015. This, combined with government investments in transport infrastructure and a growth in China's disposable income, resulted in;

• Wholesalers and retailers online
• Major online retail e-commerce sites, starting with Taobao (part of Alibaba)
• Many shopping malls have been built in every city and many towns
• Lower and faster transport costs

The growth of the Chinese domestic consumer market has increased imports of high-quality products from overseas. In turn, this has driven up the quality of locally produced products. Today, China is moving towards better quality products.

One of the biggest quality improvements was driven by the iPhone's availability in China in 2010. The feel and look of the iPhone, including packaging, became the quality standard over the years.

Over the last 15 years, as international travel has increased, Chinese consumers have gained greater knowledge of worldwide products and services. This, combined with a greater number of Chinese people educated overseas, is driving Chinese consumers to seek local, higher-quality products and services.

Manufacturing and wholesale

The advantage Chinese manufacturing has over many countries is the end-to-end supply chain for factories.

Very few Chinese factories make all the parts for a product. For example, a simple battery-powered bedside lamp has over 10 components, most of which will be sourced from different factories.

The products we recommend you look for from Chinese factories and suppliers are those that have already been successful in other countries, not just your own markets. This gives you the working marketing, business plan, etc, module to review and adopt if appropriate.

We have used six paths to locate Chinese suppliers.

• Chinese trade fairs
• Trade city markets, e.g.
• Yiwu – general consumer products
• Shenzhen - Computer and electronic products
• Chinese export/import agents
• Chinese search engines and B2B e-Commerce, e.g.
• Baidu
• Alibaba
• Trade organisation (in China and in your local country)
• Our local trading network

Innovation vs “more of the same”

It is not good news from China. You need to separate the businesses in China that are bringing new ideas and products to market from those just copying existing products.

Businesses creating products that already exist are important. It allows China to meet a very large internal market, 1.4 billion people, in a fast-growing economy, which consumes products and services faster than anywhere else in the world. No one organisation can meet these demands.

The “more of the same” creates a comfort level that leads Chinese businesses to present the same ideas and products to overseas businesses, even when the technology has changed.

When working with Chinese suppliers, it can take a while to find the right products when you get into the details. The new technology, once proven, will have a chance of lasting the lifetime of the investment.

How this hub is organised

The Access to China information library is organised into three practical collections. Each collection reflects how Chinese users, platforms, and regulations actually work.

Start with reliability (being seen), move to discovery (being found), and then build the trading model and operations (start trading).

Browse the article collections

Use the tiles below to enter each collection. Each collection contains topic pages and practical checklists.