Yi Fan
During his visit to China in July, U.S. climate envoy John Kerry stated that “the climate crisis demands that the world’s two largest economies work together to limit the Earth’s warming.”
That does not seem to be an exaggeration. Prolonged heatwaves, droughts and extreme weather events are becoming increasingly common and severe. The gray rhino of the climate crisis is coming at humanity faster than ever. As the world’s top two economies, China and the U.S. are looked upon to scale up cooperation and tame the barging beast.
It is an important mission for them to work together on the challenge of the current century. And what’s more, positive China-U.S. interactions on climate work as the ballast that contributes to a smooth sailing of the world’s most consequential bilateral relationship and, by extension, add more certainty and stability to the sustainable development of the whole world.
It is therefore not without bewilderment to see the U.S., while claiming its willingness to cooperate with China, take provocative moves that hinder meaningful climate cooperation. Earlier this year, U.S. Congress passed acts denouncing China’s developing country status. By taking such an absurd move, the U.S. tries to create excuses that help it escape from its historical responsibilities for carbon emissions and shift the blame to China. Climate, as it turns out, is just another handy tool for the U.S. to contain China.
The U.S. is also ganging up with its allies and partners to hit China hard. On May 20, 2023, the G7 Clean Energy Economy Action Plan was launched after a summit of the grouping. Immediately after that, leaders of the QUAD, a U.S.-led bloc composed of the United States, Australia, India and Japan, issued a statement on clean energy supply chains. Both share the same strategic goal: squeeze China’s space in the global supply and industrial chains of net-zero economy. As Secretary of State Antony Blinken exclaimed in a speech, “It’s difficult to imagine the United States winning the long-term strategic competition with China if we cannot lead the renewable energy revolution.” At the end of the day, it’s always about “outcompeting” China.
What the U.S. has done to China captures its overall approach to the half-hearted climate cooperation with developing countries, too. As the world’s largest cumulative emitter, the U.S. has made it clear that the country will not “under any circumstances” pay reparations to developing countries hit by climate change-fueled disasters. From 2018 to 2020, the U.S. government has stacked up over 13 million euros in deferred contributions to the UNFCCC.
Still, it presses developing countries to raise their emission reduction commitments in ways that significantly exceed their capabilities, and repeatedly blocks developing countries’ access to climate funds in disregard of the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities”. By tinkering with global climate governance to tilt the balance away from developing countries, the U.S. is “redefining” climate justice in a way that serves itself best.
The self-purported commitment of the U.S. to climate cooperation with China is based on a distorted reality: that China is not doing enough. That is simply not true. China’s determination to tackle the climate challenge is not to be doubted. The country is now modernizing its economy in a way that highlights the harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature. China has announced its time-frame for carbon peaking before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060. And it is making real efforts to make that happen: one-third of the world’s installed capacity of wind and solar power is in China, and half of the world’s wheels propelled by new energy are rolling on Chinese roads.
As a firm champion of multilateralism, China sees climate change as a common challenge that is faced by all and must be addressed by all, and is working actively to galvanize global climate action. In April this year, Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron agreed on jointly developing a carbon neutrality center, in a bid to add new momentum to the global low-carbon transition. China is committed to boosting the construction of multilateral climate cooperation platforms, including by building a Green Belt and Road. A benchmark project under this initiative is the transition of container terminals in Colombo, Sri Lanka, where diesel generators of gantry cranes were upgraded to an electricity-powered system, resulting in a reduction of total carbon emissions by 45 percent.
Globally, the awareness of enhanced solidarity and redoubled efforts on climate response has become stronger than ever. Later this year, the world will be watching how COP28 of the UNFCCC unfolds in Dubai. It will surely be a key moment for global climate governance. Humanity has come to a decisive juncture in tackling climate change and avoiding the worst, irreversible impacts of this crisis. Action—that is what’s most urgently needed in the global climate endeavor.
In this endeavor, there is another thing that is equally indispensable: sincere, earnest, and practical cooperation between China and the United States. For that to take place, it is important that the U.S. respects different national conditions and stages of development, observes the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement, and prevents ideological differences from impacting China-U.S. climate cooperation. Only in this way will China and the U.S. be able to work together to mobilize global climate action, and save the future for all humanity.
The author is a current affairs commentator based in Beijing.