How provinces and cities can sustain US–China climate cooperation
Relations between the United States and China are at a critical juncture. Given Donald Trump\’s recent victory in the US election, a slowdown in China\’s economy, and rising tensions over trade and technology, productive cooperation between the two countries is not guaranteed.
President-elect Trump has already indicated that federal policy on climate and environmental issues could change drastically, among other issues. For example, he has vowed to end offshore wind development \”on day one,\” halt renewable energy subsidies introduced by President Joe Biden under the Inflation Reduction Act, and raise tariffs on all imported goods.
If these proposed policy changes take effect under the new administration in January, they will have a clear impact on US-China relations, which are already strained. Still, it is important to recognize that the two countries share similar vulnerabilities, including weather disruptions caused by climate change, and there are reasons to act jointly in some areas. Indeed, continued engagement between the world\’s two largest economies is critical to making progress on global challenges.
Fortunately, there are ways to sustain mutually beneficial action in an era of great power competition. Subnational governments (states, provinces, and cities) and non-state actors (businesses, academia, nonprofit organizations, and philanthropic institutions) can play a key role in supporting dialogue and collaboration.
Over the past few years, rather than wait for clarity on policies from the U.S. federal government, several states have decided to set their own paths. Senate Bill 100 in California requires 100% of the state’s electricity to come from renewable sources by 2045.
New York will reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by 40% from 1990 levels by 2030 through the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.
Other states, such as Washington, have enacted similar legislation to ensure progress on renewable energy adoption and emissions reduction despite federal disincentives. These efforts reflect broader state-level initiatives to future-proof policies in areas such as health care and civil rights, putting subnational jurisdictions at the forefront of climate policy and regulation.
Here we describe joint initiatives between California and Chinese agencies and provinces on clean energy and climate action. We highlight areas in which expanding subnational collaboration could be effective and lay out steps to advance the US-China partnership on climate change. Although national governments may be instinctively wary of subnational collaboration, in our opinion, the benefits far outweigh any perceived risks.
Opening space for dialogue
Cooperation between California and China has grown over the past decade, in response to changes in US federal policies. Climate change was a pillar of the US-China relationship during President Barack Obama’s administration from 2009 to 20171-3. The Trump administration’s withdrawal from the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement and its disengagement with China created a void. California stepped up to help fill it.
In 2017, the then-governor of California (one of us, J.B.) met with Chinese President Xi Jinping and signed a series of climate and energy-focused agreements between California and several of China’s national agencies and provincial governments. This strengthened earlier ties and built on California’s first memorandum of understanding (MOU) on climate change with China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and Guangdong and Jiangsu provinces, which were signed in 2013.
When Biden’s administration took power in 2021, the United States rejoined the Paris Agreement. Both countries put forward envoys – John Kerry, former U.S. Secretary of State, and one of us (Z.X.) – to assist in dialogue and cooperation about climate change. Discussions between the envoys paved the way for a meeting between Presidents Biden and Xi during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference held outside San Francisco, California, in November 2023.
Subsequently, the two countries issued a joint statement on enhancing cooperation to address the climate crisis. They identified areas for deeper bilateral cooperation, including exchanging information on the transition from coal to green energy, reduction of methane emissions, and waste reduction through more efficient use of resources.
Following the summit, working groups were established to exchange views in each area. The discussions of these groups culminated in a high-level bilateral meeting at the California-China Climate Institute (CCCI) in Berkeley, California in May this year; participants included the governors of California and Guangdong Province and officials from five cities and four provinces in China4.