My Take | China steps up charge on climate change fight as the US turns away

The epicentre of leadership in the fight against climate change is undergoing a tectonic shift. A recent flurry of news has emerged from the United States as it dismantles safeguards and institutions once considered key to environmental protection under previous presidents but now out of favour with the new administration of President Donald Trump.

On the first day of his second term, Trump withdrew the US from the Paris climate accords. The action has not stopped since. In a drive to reduce federal spending, a wave of job cuts has swept through the government. Agencies core to US climate work have not been spared. They include the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which forecasts the weather; the Department of the Interior, which manages federal lands for uses including developing oil and gas and harvesting timber; and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which enforces acts on clean air and water and works to protect the environment. Nasa eliminated its Office of the Chief Scientist, sacking its head – a leading climate scientist who was reportedly barred from attending international climate talks in China in February.

Last week, the EPA announced 31 sweeping changes that reverse or alter climate change policies. Agency administrator Lee Zeldin declared the day the “most consequential day of deregulation in American history”, and dismissed critics who claim the moves mark a retreat from protecting the environment. Environmentalists say the changes will give a free pass to emitters and increase pollution.

Across the Pacific, China was reinforcing its commitment to combating climate change, setting targets and pledging investment to help meet its UN commitments to curbing greenhouse gas emissions.

As Premier Li Qiang on March 5 addressed the annual session of parliament and a top advisory body, coverage focused on China’s efforts to spur consumption, leverage technology to drive growth and meet its challenging annual GDP target of about 5 per cent.

Less widely reported, but not less significant, were Li’s pronouncements about the environment and corresponding plans for the year ahead. The premier said China last year had boosted its share of electricity generated from non-fossil fuels close to 40 per cent of total power generation. New-energy vehicle production had surpassed 13 million, the country had launched a carbon trading market, and cut energy consumption per unit of GDP by more than 3 per cent, he said. That beat the target of 2.5 per cent.