Shi Jiangtao

My Take | Is China ready to lead the way on fighting climate change after Donald Trump’s return?

Beijing is under pressure to fill the leadership vacuum, but the world’s largest carbon emitter is resisting calls to provide more funding

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China now produces more emissions that the US and EU combined. Photo: Getty Images

Shi Jiangtao

Published: 7:49pm, 19 Nov 2024Updated: 8:09pm, 19 Nov 2024

Pressure is mounting on China to fill a potential void in climate leadership following the re-election of Donald Trump, who has promised to pull the United States out of the Paris Agreement.

There is little doubt that his isolationist “America first” policies could deal a devastating blow to international efforts to halt global warming but, as many have argued, it also provides an opening for Beijing to step in.

However, it is not clear if it is prepared to do so. China was obviously not ready seven years ago when Trump first “abdicated” Washington’s leadership role, as former American deputy climate envoy Jonathan Pershing described it.

Instead, the world’s top carbon emitter and energy consumer waited until nearly the end of Trump’s first term in 2020 to unveil its pledge to become carbon neutral by 2060.

Now, facing acute socio-economic woes at home and a growing pushback from the US and its allies, it remains to be seen if it will act differently this time around.

That was probably the question on the mind of every negotiator at the United Nations climate talks in Baku, Azerbaijan, known as Cop29.