China’s Uneven Climate Leadership: Domestic Policy and International Influence in the Post-Paris Era
Many climate policies do not make China a self-evident climate leader, says climate researcher Xiaoran Li in her thesis.
“China plays a major role in tackling climate change. The country is pursuing more and more climate policy and is internationally influential, including through the production of clean technology. Yet it is unclear how powerful that policy is and when other countries actually see China as a climate leader.
“I therefore investigated how China's climate policy has developed since the Paris Climate Agreement, how strong the policy is in different sectors and in what ways China exerts international influence. The central question is why a country can be indispensable for the global energy transition at the same time and yet not be an unambiguous climate leader.”
Big differences per sector
“More climate policy does not automatically mean stronger climate policy. My analysis of 358 national Chinese policies showed that the strength and coherence of the policies vary from sector to sector.
“China's leadership is also unevenly distributed internationally. The country has a lot of influence through its industry, clean technology and climate diplomacy, but is not recognized as a leader in all areas. Especially where credible domestic results, open knowledge sharing or recognition by other countries are important, that leadership is less self-evident. China's central role in climate action cannot therefore be summed up with a single label.”
More information on the thesis.