According to Fox News, U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm just argued that the United States can "lean from what China is going" to address climate change. 

Granholm made the argument on Friday during an interview that she participated in at the annual South by Southwest (SXSW) conference in Austin, Texas.

SXSW Studio host Wajahat Ali prefaced his question to Granholm as follows:

I want to talk about accountability. We don’t know what’s going to happen, but — with China specifically, right? When we’re talking about, if it’s Wuhan, or if it’s not, but accountability when it comes to those countries that are doing so much damage to the world, when it comes to climate change. I hate to say it’s China and it’s also the United States of America.

Ali then asked Granholm, "How do we hold China and ourselves accountable for what we are doing around the world?"

"What we have been trying to do . . ."

Granholm began her response by speaking about what U.S. President Joe Biden's climate envoy has been up to.

She said:

What we have been trying to do, what Secretary [John] Kerry has been trying to do as the president’s climate envoy, is to get all of these countries to agree to very aggressive targets to be able to make sure that we don’t get climate — global warming happening over, you know, 1.5 degrees. And we — we have — you know, we’ve raised our hand, we said, we want to get to net zero by 2050. We are really pushing other countries to do the same.

It's not immediately clear how this is responsive to Ali's question.

But, Granholm didn't stop there.

"We can all learn from what China is doing"

Granholm went on to claim that there are some "outlier" countries that "don't care" about her climate agenda. But, Granholm insisted that China doesn't fall into this category.

In fact, Granholm went on to praise China.

She said:

I think China has done — has been very sensitive and has actually invested a lot in their solutions to achieve their goals. So we’re — we’re hopeful that, you know, we can all learn from what China is doing."

A reality check

The Daily Caller, in its own report on Granholm's remark, highlights the fact that China isn't exactly the role model that Granholm claims it to be.

The outlet reports:

China approved 168 new power plants fueled by coal in 2022, according to a report by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) and Global Energy Monitor (GEM) released Feb. 27. The country was responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than any other country in 2019, the BBC reported.

This begs the question: why do the likes of Granholm, Kerry, and others continue to praise China regarding its approach to climate change despite the fact that it has been one of the worst offenders when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions?