The world needs Sino-American climate cooperation

13 December 2022

Despite the favourable prioritisation of climate cooperation during the meeting between US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Bali, most of the progress on climate change has been made independently, domestically driven by both countries. Both leaders are demonstrating a willingness to cooperate on climate issues, not because they are putting aside their differences, but because signalling cooperation fits Washington and Beijing's own climate agendas at the moment.

The key takeaway from the latest meeting appeared to be ensuring that open lines of communication and constructive engagement on key issues are maintained. While this is crucial, especially in terms of climate change, both countries must not just rely on their own domestic climate efforts but must work together to advance the international climate agenda. Enhanced prospects for US-China climate cooperation are a signal to the rest of the world: if the world’s two rivalling superpowers can cooperate on climate change, the rest of the world has no excuse but to join in the effort.

On the international stage

When looking at the readouts from both the US and China on the Biden-Xi meeting, each leader remarked that the current state of US-China relations is not in the interests of either country or the international community. According to Biden, “the United States and China must work together to address transnational challenges — such as climate change, global macroeconomic stability including debt relief, health security, and global food security — because that is what the international community expects”. But he also emphasised that China would remain a competitor, and raised concerns about Beijing’s practices in Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong.

Seeing the largest superpowers, despite their differences, join forces for the good of least developed countries will invoke a positive response from all nations.

Meanwhile, President Xi made numerous references to “the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation”, “Chinese style modernisation”, “Chinese style democracy”, and the need to avoid debates around “democracy versus authoritarianism”. Xi also spoke about taking advantage of the opportunities for cooperation that present themselves between the US and China, reinforcing the idea that there should be no zero-sum competition.

At COP27, China’s climate envoy Xie Zhenhua (President Xi did not attend) noted China’s latest domestic triumphs. Key achievements in 2021 included: carbon emissions per capita of GDP dropped by a cumulative 50.8 per cent from 2005 levels; in-store capacity of renewable energy was over 1.12 billion kw, lowering the cost of renewable energy worldwide; 85 per cent of the world’s solar energy production was conducted by China; and green transportation has led to the rapid development of new types of energy efficient vehicles, with 3.9 million new vehicles produced between January and August 2022.

Xie Zhenhua’s words reaffirmed Xi’s address at the 20th Party Congress in October this year, where the president reinforced China’s commitment to its 2030 and 2060 targets while also needing to “establish the new before demolishing the old”.

The US has made significant progress on its own domestic climate agenda. After the tumultuous period following the Paris Agreement — that saw the US withdraw from the agreement under former US President Trump and rejoin under Biden — the US had a lot to prove to the international community. On 16 August 2022, the Biden Administration signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) into US law. The IRA is a landmark national law that injects a record USD 369 billion into the domestic climate agenda. The IRA is the most significant US climate-focused law to date and serves as a marker to the international community that the US is back to actively committing to fighting climate change.

Walking the walk

But COP27 is focused on international climate policy, not domestic gains. One of the most important agenda items at this year’s COP was ‘loss and damage’. Specifically, the goal was to move past general conversations and discuss the creation of a loss and damage mechanism that would provide much needed financial assistance to least developed countries for loss and damage reparations.

The general concept of loss and damage was first outlined in the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) at COP19 in 2013. However, it has not gained much attention or been able to materialise into any tangible action plan or fund until now. At COP27, the decision to establish a loss and damage fund was finally made. While the details of this fund are still being finalised, it is an important step in the right direction.

Without both the leadership and financial contributions from the US and China, loss and damage funds cannot do what they are supposed to do. The fund would provide much needed assistance to least developed countries, that — although not having contributed much — have suffered the most from climate change, such as Tuvalu. According to forecasts, Tuvalu will be completely submerged by 2100. In an attempt to preserve the country’s land, ocean, culture, and history, Tuvalu Foreign Minister Simon Kofe announced plans for the country to digitise and be part of the metaverse. Tuvalu’s first step in digitisation includes recreating Teafualiku Islet, which is the smallest island and expected to be submerged first. By digitising the rest of the islands, the government is trying to create a digital replica of the physical country. At COP27, Tuvalu Minister for Finance Seve Paeniu also presented Tuvalu’s Long-Term Adaptation Plan which details plans for the country to conduct a staged relocation of people and infrastructure while also building 3.6 square kilometres of raised land.

This situation is unfortunately not unique to Tuvalu; however, the attention attracted by the nation’s plans to digitise itself provide an opportunity for the US and China to cooperate on advancing frameworks for a loss and damage fund. If both countries are seen to be working towards the common goal of supporting climate-affected nations, the entire international community will be encouraged to follow suit. Seeing the largest superpowers, despite their differences, join forces for the good of least developed countries will invoke a positive response from all nations.

US-China collaboration is necessary for more international engagement

On the issue of a loss and damage fund, the US and China must be seen as advocates who are willing to lead the establishment of a loss and damage fund for other countries to follow suit. However, both Washington and Beijing have been hesitant to establish the fund in the past. The US and other developed countries have expressed concern over facing accountability to pay for past emissions and the impacts of greenhouse gas emissions. Ultimately, at COP27, the US reversed its earlier opposition to the fund and agreed to the creation of a mechanism for loss and damage financing. China, alongside other developing countries, has argued that in the past developed countries were able to accelerate their economic growth and development by emitting carbon, yet developing countries are now being unfairly restricted in this respect. Some countries have argued that China’s status as the world's leading emitter should render it ineligible to benefit from the loss and damage fund.

In the readouts from their meeting, both Xi and Biden referenced needing to cooperate and act in the interests of the international community. While Beijing agrees that a loss and damage fund is necessary, China’s COP27 delegation stated it will not contribute monetarily. Despite this, both sides do support the fund. It is crucial that the two largest emitters turn their words into action and contribute to the fund.

Moving forward, it will be important to watch how the US and China continue to cooperate on climate change in ways that go beyond domestic agendas and dialogues. Multilateral or even bilateral climate cooperation will signal to the international community that if the US and China can cooperate on climate change, no other country can evade its own responsibilities. Dialogue surrounding cooperation is important, but actions provide greater insights into the stability of the relationship.

Given the progress made on loss and damage at COP27, it is imperative that the US and China work together to ensure progress on the mechanism. Both countries must also signal their support for the fund by contributing not only to establishing the frameworks but contributing monetarily as well. When the two largest emitters jointly take ownership, only then will we see the international community be more inclined to take the next step.

DISCLAIMER: All views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent that of the 9DASHLINE.com platform.

Author biography

Taylah Bland is the current Schwarzman Fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute, Center for China Analysis. She has spent the last five years living in and studying China with a specialisation on international environmental law, climate, and sustainability. She holds a Master’s degree in Management Science (Global Affairs) from Tsinghua University, Beijing as a Schwarzman Scholar. Her Master’s thesis examined the relationship between China’s domestic policy and international environmental law focusing on the Paris Agreement and Kyoto Protocol. In 2021, she graduated from New York University, Shanghai with a Bachelor of Social Science (Comparative Law) and minor in Mandarin. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons.