Mikaila Smith, J.D. Candidate at the University of Chicago Law School
May 15, 2018
Contemporary discourse around climate change, energy consumption and geopolitics typically depicts China either as a 21st century redeemer or as an inevitable tragedy. Both of these narratives tend towards the extreme.
Heidi Wang-Kaeding, Assistant Professor, Trinity College Dublin
Mar 02, 2018
President Xi’s new buzzword “Ecological Civilization” regarding China’s climate change efforts deserves more international attention. The phrase is an example of “environmentalism with Chinese characteristics.”
Zach Montague, News Assistant, New York Times
Nov 22, 2017
At the 19th Party Congress, President Xi announced that China had “taken a driving seat in international cooperation to respond to climate change.” But as much as Beijing has done to get its own house in order domestically, it has hasn’t always let concern over climate change inform its trade policy or diplomacy. And while China is becoming a cleaner, lower-emissions country at a national level, it has done so by "outsourcing" emissions, both internally and overseas.
Ruoxi Bi, MA Candidate, New York University
Nov 15, 2017
China plans to stop accepting imports of solid waste materials by end of 2017. This ban is expected to improve China’s domestic environmental and food safety issues. While the U.S. recycling industry is worrying about the economic damage of this policy change, the ban could trigger a positive change in U.S. domestic recycling policies.
Zach Montague, News Assistant, New York Times
Oct 27, 2017
China seized global attention in September with the announcement that it had begun earnestly planning a ban on traditional gas-fueled vehicles. So far, no date has been set for the final cutoff, and important strategic details remain murky. But the decisiveness and finality of the announcement has animated environmentalists, investors and auto manufacturers, who sense a unique business opportunity.
Dan Steinbock, Founder, Difference Group
Sep 08, 2017
Recently, the world has witnessed larger typhoons and bigger hurricanes in size and frequency. As climate risks are escalating, efforts to contain collateral damage are eroding. What is needed is joint U.S.-Chinese climate leadership.
Rui Wang, Associate Professor, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies
Jul 13, 2017
China has reaffirmed its schedule to launch the world’s largest “cap-and-trade” market for carbon emission permits in 2017. This national carbon market is expected to lower the cost of emission reduction, as China strives to fulfill its Paris pledge of peaking carbon emission by 2030.
Sieren Ernst, CEO & Co-founder Climate Cost Project/Principal at Ethics & Environment
Jun 29, 2017
Like the United States, China’s falling emissions have been aided by renewable energy expansions, but are more a result of economic forces that would have existed in the absence of government effort. Germany on the other hand has made strong policy decisions that have transformed the shape of its energy infrastructure, rather than letting its energy infrastructure transform the shape of its policy. If China wishes to lead the world to two degrees, it should follow Germany’s example, not the U.S.’s.
Tao Wenzhao, Honorary Member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; Fellow, CASS Institute of American Studies
Jun 13, 2017
The path of green and low-carbon development outlined in the Paris Agreement fits beautifully with China’s strategy to develop an ecological civilization. Hard-won and embraced by virtually every country, its spirit stands in stark contrast to the new US president’s lack of forward thinking.
Shen Dingli, Professor, Institute of International Studies, Fudan University
Jun 13, 2017
With the US now unwilling to pay the price of global leadership, other countries will seize both the opportunities and the responsibility to make the Paris accord work.