Tracing China’s climate change journey from denial to decarbonisation
- Earth Day’s virtual summit of world leaders could be an opportunity to establish Beijing’s green credentials
- After decades of rejecting climate change, China is said to be eager to boost its image as a responsible global power
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US, China put aside differences for pledge to work together on climate change
China is responsible for around 28 per cent of CO2 emissions – more than the US and EU combined – and has had the world’s largest carbon footprint since 2004. For decades, Beijing rejected the notion of climate change and argued for deferred emission reduction obligations as a developing country.
There are profound political and economic motives for China’s recent adaptation to the challenging reality of climate change, including unprecedented public anger over the country’s worsening pollution levels – China is also the world’s worst polluter – which was the catalyst for its embrace of the clean energy sectors for sustainable economic growth.
China is also eager to boost its image as a responsible global power and become a rule setter in green technologies by committing more to the climate issue. The country is also keen to reset its relationship with the US, which has plunged to the lowest point in half a century.
“It wasn’t an overnight conversion or random decision,” said George Magnus, an associate at Oxford University’s China Centre, referring to Beijing’s embrace of the 2060 target. “It’s the culmination of an incremental shift in thinking that’s been going on for a decade or longer.”
Conspiracy theories about climate change dominated China’s narrative from the 1990s, when the country was relying on coal, steel and other high-carbon industries to pump up its economy. Talk in the West about carbon mitigation to address a warming planet was regarded as a ploy to contain China’s development.