Climate Special 20: Steady States (II)

Today, we continue our series on Sino-US climate cooperation with the second half of our story covering the importance of subnational cooperation between China and various states in the US as a way to mitigate the relative lack of progress at the national level. 

Transcript

Steady States (II)

Today, we continue our series on Sino-US climate cooperation with the second half of our story covering the importance of subnational cooperation between China and various states in the US as a way to mitigate the relative lack of progress at the national level. 

Staying Connected

When we left off last time, we were talking about how the California-China Climate Change Institute had set a consistent example in terms of both communication and coordination to advance climate control initiatives between the two biggest carbon emitters. 

But California is not alone. In December 2024, the 4th Annual China-Oregon Forum on Climate Change & Sustainability (COFCCS) was held online. Government officials and researchers from Oregon, Tianjin and Fujian Province shared their achievements in dealing with climate change and discussed topics including smart cities, national parks and climate-smart agriculture.

During the 3rd COFCCS held in Fuzhou, Fujian Province in 2023, Crater Lake National Park in Oregon and Wuyishan National Park in Fujian signed an agreement to further encourage exchanges, hold forums and send delegations to learn from each other’s experiences in environmental monitoring, climate change adaptation, biodiversity conservation and science popularization.

At the forum, Oregon State Senator Michael Dembrow, said, “We are one planet and the actions taken or not taken by one jurisdiction inevitably affect the other. Global climate action must entail both friendly competition and also productive partnerships.”

In November 2023, the US Heartland China Association (USHCA), an organization that builds relationships between government officials, business leaders and educational institutions in China and the US, organized a bipartisan delegation of six US mayors representing communities along the Mississippi River Basin to visit their counterparts along the Yangtze River in China for exchanges on energy transition, climate mitigation and the green economy. The six mayors from Indiana, Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi and Minnesota visited five Chinese cities in 10 days to put bilateral cooperative frameworks into action at the local level, at the same time as the Sino-US bilateral working group under the leadership of Xie Zhenhua and his US counterpart John Kerry strived to complete the Sunnylands Statement in California.

The visit kicked off two-way exchanges as part of the USHCA’s Yangtze-Mississippi Municipality Energy Transition Exchange project, which aims to promote city-to-city best practice sharing between communities along these two major rivers around energy transition, climate mitigation, and the green economy.

During the 10-day visit, the mayoral delegation visited Hong Kong, Wuhan in Hubei Province, and Nanjing and Suzhou in Jiangsu Province, as well as Shanghai to see how the cities reduced carbon emissions, including the widespread use of battery-electric buses, centralized energy supply solutions and large-scale centralized infrastructure for wastewater treatment. In Nanjing, they were amazed to learn that it takes only 20 minutes to fully recharge one electric bus, and that 95 percent of Nanjing’s 2,000 bus fleet is electric.

An article on USHCA’s website said, “The mayors returned home equipped with new ideas for promoting economic growth and sustainable development in their respective communities as well as newfound, collaborative relationships they plan to continue with dozens of Chinese counterparts.”

Chinese and US cities are also focusing on adaptation, a field of common interest and cooperation, and there is much communication in this regard, according to Chen Boping, C40 regional director for East Asia.

Chen told NewsChina, “Climate change results in extreme weather such as urban flooding and high temperatures. Cities are the first to suffer, so they are motivated to learn and take action.”

“Cities face daily challenges brought about by climate crisis and the problems they face have a lot in common. They are motivated to act to solve problems. Besides, they have economic and industrial connections, like Shanghai and Los Angeles. Cities take concrete actions. From this angle, we believe there is more room for pragmatic subnational and city-level cooperation, which is probably more important than ever under the circumstances,” Chen said.

Subnational Potential

In September 2024, Yantian Port of Shenzhen signed a memorandum of understanding with Long Beach Port and the air quality administration authorities of California, aiming to push forward the use of clean energy and the development of zero- or low-carbon projects.

Liu Daizong said more ports and cities are showing interest. While many interviewed experts expressed pessimism toward China-US climate cooperation at the national level under the second Trump administration, they still expect that subnational cooperation between China and US can play a bigger role and that more states, provinces, and cities can work together. Chen hopes local governments in the US keep playing their part.

“When the US withdrew from the Paris Agreement, many of its state governments and cities maintained a firm stance in tackling climate change. We hope they will maintain their efforts,” Chen said.

She acknowledged that cooperation at the subnational level inevitably will be affected by the national relationship, but as long as communication and cooperation are maintained, there will be broader cooperation when the situation improves.

Wang Yanhui, deputy executive director for the Operation and Organizational Development of iGDP, a Beijing-based non-profit think tank focused on green development, noted that subnational cooperation could avoid the uncertainties that are happening at the national level. “In the US, some states deny climate change, but some are very active in addressing it. The states have substantial authority to make their own decisions. It’s easier to cooperate with individual states than with all of them at once,” Wang said.

Wang attended the high-level event on subnational climate action in Berkeley and was impressed by the large-scale climate discussions, the most significant in years. Wang commented, “Regardless of how many concrete joint projects were conducted, this kind of dialogue is valuable, particularly in times of strained relations between the two countries.”

From the state’s perspective, according to Dai Fan, they recognize the shared interests and challenges and will continue to act within their authority, regardless of the federal government’s approach. “You can’t really just rely on the government to keep collaborating. You need to allow more cities and local governments and academia, like researchers, to continue doing what they’re doing, regardless of the political climate. You need to allow more businesses to take leadership in this, because ultimately, when you talk about climate change to solve the problem, we rely on actions,” Dai said.

“The uncertainties are real and the challenges are there. The relationship will probably not be easy in the coming years. But I think the climate imperative overcomes all these risks,” Dai added.

Chen pointed out that there is an information divide between Chinese and US societies, which is hindering bilateral climate cooperation to some extent. For example, the American public might have limited knowledge about what China is dong to tackle the climate crisis, and vice versa. She suggested the two countries and subnational governments encourage more interaction and increase mutual visits, and added that the C40 will play a bigger role in boosting communication between global cities.

Li Chao, spokesperson of the NDRC, announced at a press conference in June 2024 that, to boost subnational climate cooperation, a communication mechanism will be established to encourage provinces or states, cities, and enterprises from China and the US to strengthen policy exchanges and practice sharing, as well as expand and deepen practical cooperation on climate change and green and low-carbon issues. 

In an article published in Nature in December 2024 co-authored by Dai Fan, Jerry Brown, Xie Zhenhua and others, the importance of subnational cooperation was stressed. The authors believe that subnational cooperation should return to the global stage to address climate change as a global issue.

Well, that wraps up our 20-part series on China-US climate cooperation. Our theme music is by the famous film score composer Roc Chen. We want to thank today’s writer Xu Ming, as well as all the contributing writers and interviewees for this important series. And thank you for listening. We hope you enjoyed it, and if you did, please tell a friend, so they, too, can understand The Context!