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.”

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.”

Much of China's future progress will depend on what happens in the countryside.

A unit of China Three Gorges Corp. is building a 1 billion yuan ($151 million) floating solar power plant, the world’s biggest, in the nation’s eastern province of Anhui.

More than 90 firms ordered to shut down as environmental authority presses on with clampdown on pollution

China’s carbon emissions will probably peak on or before 2030, a survey of industry participants found. About 82 percent of 260 stakeholders in the nation

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.

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.

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.