cover of episode Assessing Drivers and Progress in China’s Climate Policies

Assessing Drivers and Progress in China’s Climate Policies

2024/11/5
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China Global
People
B
Bonnie Glaser
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Michael Davidson
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Bonnie Glaser概述了中国在全球气候变化中的地位，强调其能源消费和碳排放量巨大，以及其在可再生能源领域的领先地位。她还提到了中国在2030年前实现碳排放达峰和2060年前实现碳中和的承诺。 Michael Davidson详细分析了中国应对气候变化的策略，指出中国在2009年哥本哈根气候峰会之前较为被动，之后逐渐转向更积极主动的立场。他解释了中国气候政策背后的考量因素，包括能源安全、可负担性、产业结构调整、空气污染和气候变化。他强调了地方政府和企业在清洁能源技术发展中的作用，以及中国日益严重的极端天气事件对气候政策的影响。他还讨论了中国对煤炭使用的依赖，以及2021年电力中断对政策调整的影响。Davidson还分析了中国实现2030年和2060年气候目标的挑战和机遇，包括可再生能源的快速发展、土地利用、煤电厂改造和退役等社会经济问题。此外，他还探讨了气候变化中的安全因素，以及中美在气候合作中的机遇与挑战，包括甲烷减排、清洁能源技术合作、碳捕获与封存等。最后，他还讨论了“一带一路”倡议的绿色转型，以及中美在发展中国家绿色转型融资中的合作与竞争。

Deep Dive

Chapters
This chapter explores Xi Jinping's evolving views on climate change, tracing China's shift from a reactive stance to a more proactive leadership role, particularly after the 2009 Copenhagen summit and the US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement in 2017. Xi's 2020 commitment to carbon neutrality highlights its elevated priority within China's policy agenda.
  • China's shift from reactive to proactive stance on climate change
  • Xi Jinping's unilateral commitment to carbon neutrality by 2060
  • China's use of administrative and command-and-control policies to achieve climate objectives

Shownotes Transcript

China is the world’s largest energy consumer and carbon emitter, accounting for one-third of global CO2 emissions. One of its biggest sources of emissions is coal, which plays a central role in China’s economy. At the same time, however, China is the world’s leading supplier of renewable energy, largely due to significant government investments in green technologies, including solar manufacturing, batteries, and minerals. In September 2020, China’s leader Xi Jinping announced the goal of achieving peak CO2 emissions before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060.” This ambitious pledge, if realized, will be an important step in global efforts to limit global warming.

In the past few years, the increasingly competitive and fraught relationship between the United States and China has spilled into the climate domain, threatening the potential for both countries to work together to address climate change. That is the topic of a recent commentary co-authored by Margaret Pearson and Michael Davidson. The paper is titled, “Where are the US and China on addressing climate change?”, and it can be found on the Brookings Institution website. In this episode of China Global, host Bonnie Glaser speaks with one of the authors, Michael Davidson, who is an assistant professor at the School of Global Policy and Strategy and the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department of the Jacobs School of Engineering at the University of California San Diego.

 

Timestamps

[01:57] China’s Approach to Addressing Climate Change

[04:26] Considerations Behind China’s Climate Policy 

[07:37] Doubling Down on Coal Domestically

[10:34] Evaluating China’s Progress Toward Carbon Neutrality

[14:42] Security and China’s Climate Change Policy

[19:13] China’s International Climate Cooperation

[22:45] US-China Working Group on Enhancing Climate Action 

[30:27] The Green Belt and Road Initiative