Toward a New Era of US Engagement with China on Climate Change

• Published in: Georgetown journal of international affairs 2020-10, Vol.21 (1), p.173-181
• Main Author: Lewis, Joanna I
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agreements; Air pollution; Alternative fuel vehicles; Clean energy; Clean technology; Climate change; Climate policy; Coal; Coordination; Electric vehicles; Electricity; Emissions; Energy consumption; Energy development; Energy efficiency; Energy policy; Energy research; Energy sources; Forest conservation; Forestry; Greenhouse gases; Hydrofluorocarbons; International agreements; International cooperation; Leadership; Management; Montreal Protocol; Paris Agreement; Renewable energy; Science and technology
• ISSN: 1526-0054; 2471-8831; 2471-8831
• DOI: 10.1353/gia.2020.0032

The TYF laid out robust bilateral cooperation agendas on clean electricity, clean water, clean air, clean transportation, and forest conservation.4 Though the SED was rebranded under the [End Page 173] Obama administration as the Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED), with the State Department and Treasury Department now co-chairing the dialogue for the United States, the TYF persisted for another few years as a key pillar of bilateral cooperation on energy and climate, until much of its work was folded into new agreements.5 The Obama administration brought USChina climate cooperation to a new level. During this trip the US Department of Energy (DOE) signed a protocol with China's Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) and the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) announcing plans to develop a US–China Clean Energy Research Center (CERC).6 Later that year, a US–China presidential summit prompted a significant set of new agreements on joint energy and climate cooperation between the two countries, including on electric vehicles, energy efficiency, renewable energy, clean coal, and shale gas.7 Only in 2013 did international climate policy become central to the bilateral agenda with the establishment of the Climate Change Working Group (CCWG).8 Work through the CCWG and other high- level channels paved the way for the 2014 joint US-China announcement of climate goals, which allowed for new global leverage leading into the final stage of negotiations on the Paris Agreement.9 Ongoing high-level engagement on climate change also allowed the US to achieve real progress with China on other fronts, including through international agreements to accelerate the phase out of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) (the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol) and emissions from aviation (the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation).10 US-China consensus on addressing HFCs and aviation emissions emerged from bilateral dialogue.11 This elevation of the climate change issue on the US-China bilateral agenda coincided with China's emergence as a major player in the development and deployment of clean energy technologies, and consequently their new positioning as a somewhat reluctant global "climate leader. [...]China's long-term emissions trends are unclear at best. For many years NDRC oversaw both climate [End Page 175] and energy policy, allowing for policy coordination in the area of low-carbon energy sources since China's greenhouse gas emi