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Editor's note: U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry will visit China from July 16 to 19 and the two sides are set to have in-depth exchange of views on cooperation in addressing climate change. How will this trip impact China-U.S. cooperation on climate change and the bilateral relationship? We've talked to Li Shuo, the Senior Global Policy Advisor at the Greenpeace East Asia about this.
CGTN: U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry is visiting China. What outcome do you expect from his visit?
Li Shuo: I think Secretary Kerry's Beijing visit that we're expecting next week will be a conversation-starter between the two biggest emitters in the world. This is an important effort because the U.S.-China climate exchanges have largely been disrupted by the broader bilateral relationship over the last year or so.
We do know that climate change perhaps has been more different from many other issues on the bilateral agenda, (and) has a great deal of urgency. Both countries, as well as the rest of the world, do need to get all their hands on deck and to accelerate their climate action.
This can only be done if the two biggest emitters in the world, the U.S. and China, can talk to each other. But I do see this trip as perhaps a starting point of a long process that both countries as well as the rest of the world require.
CGTN: How can China and the U.S. better insulate climate issues from political disruptions like we experienced over the past year?
Li Shuo: The easiest thing that they can do is to look outside of the window or to just stand on the street in Beijing or in Washington D.C. and try to stay under the sunshine for five minutes. And both countries will then realize that they actually share something that is very important, which is the impact of climate change, which is haunting us, which is haunting both countries as well as the rest of the world.
CGTN: What lessons can be learned from China's efforts in combating climate change?
Li Shuo: I think the most important lesson that China has learned over the last decade or so is if the environmental progress is to be achieved, then the country needs to align environmental action, with its self-interest, its interest, its desire to develop its economy to ensure better prosperity.
And I think this is to some extent what China did over the last decade. When we look at the issue of air pollution, for example, China very much realized that this is a daunting issue that is affecting the country, its public in a negative way. And there is an urgency to take action. And that's what China did over the last 10 years or so. As a result of that, we have seen a steady progress with regard to air, cleaning up our air, improving air quality, reducing the smart particles that are harmful for human health. I also think the alignment between China's industrialization and the clean technology sector is another critical lesson that China learned. This bears significant implication for the rest of the world.
The renewable energy industry in China was at ground-zero 15 years ago. But just over a very short period of time, China managed to ramp up significant manufacturing capacity, by doing so also reduced drastically the cost of technologies like solar wind, electric vehicles and so on.
And this is also good news, I think, for the rest of the world because it means to tackle climate change, the cost will be lower. For many other countries, in particular, the ones are in the global south. How do we align industrialization and the clean energy transition? How do we ensure that this could continue globally? I think it is also a critical issue.
