中文
By Emilia Fernandez
"A deadly heat wave is sweeping and sweating Europe, potentially pushing for record-breaking temperatures."
"California's Death Valley sizzles at 53 degrees Celsius as brutal heat wave continues."
"China registered 52.2 degrees Celsius shattering all-time high-temperature records."
This was the global climate scenario as John Kerry, the U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, is paying a four-day visit to China in an effort to combat climate change. This is Kerry's third trip to Beijing as U.S. climate envoy and the third tour of high-level U.S. officials to China since U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's China visit last month, sending a meaningful message not only for China-U.S. relations but also for global climate governance.
As major global powers, China and the U.S. have been playing a constructive role in facilitating global climate negotiations and actions, inspiring each other to undertake many ambitious climate projects. Undoubtedly, the cooperation between China and the U.S. is indispensable in the urgent battle against global warming. Despite Beijing and Washington's cooperation, climate experts are pessimistic about it yielding effective results in tackling climate change due to a "major obstacle" that hinders China-U.S. collaboration on this issue.
The daunting challenge that looms over their climate alliance is the inconsistency of Washington's climate policies. The widely-known political divide on climate policies reverberates not only in the U.S., but also hampers effective collaboration with China and other countries.
The lack of continuity in climate policies leads to uncertainty, which ultimately undermines progress that could be achieved through China-U.S. climate cooperation. China and the U.S. have joint responsibilities in dealing urgently with global climate change. Though these two superpowers have the required diplomatic, financial, and technological capabilities in addressing the climate crisis and driving transformative change to unite the world on these issues, they face huge challenges in delivering fruitful results mainly because of Washington's inconsistent policies.
With the U.S. presidential election approaching, a major shift in policies, priorities, and commitment toward climate emergencies becomes visible. While the Democrats have been pushing for aggressive climate actions, opposition from the Republicans has derailed the progress leading to a reversal in policies.
Such inconsistencies arising from political transition have led to a fragmented approach with regard to the climate catastrophe. Furthermore, the deep divisions between the Democrats and the Republicans have raised eyebrows among the international partners let alone China. The stark difference in stances toward climate has turned this issue into a bone of contention on both sides of the political spectrum in the U.S. This deep-seated polarization put Washington's position as a reliable global climate partner into question.
It is relevant to explore some concrete examples whereby political transition in the U.S. lead to major shifts and inconsistencies in climate policies. One of the most notable examples is Washington's withdrawal from and reentry into the Paris Agreement. In 2017, the then U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from the Paris Agreement, but President Biden decided to rejoin the same pact after coming to power in 2020.
The Trump administration rolled back some environmental regulations such as Clean Power Plan, whereas the Biden Administration decided to reverse such rollbacks. During his tenure, Trump tried to reduce federal tax incentives for renewable energy projects, but Biden is now striving to increase funding for clean energy research and development projects. Whereas the Trump administration emphasized fossil fuel production, the Biden administration is prioritizing clean energy projects.
Such examples clearly illustrate the major inconsistencies in Washington's climate policies, that cast a shadow over global cooperation in dealing with the climate crisis. The divergent approach undertaken by different U.S. administrations makes it extremely difficult for China and other countries to engage in long-term cooperative efforts with Washington. Such inconsistent policies undermine trust and send confusing signals to the world including Beijing.
Subsequently, climate skepticism within the U.S. political sphere discourages and demotivates Chinese stakeholders, both government and private organizations, to undertake and invest in any collective climate-related projects.
Before asking China to navigate through uncharted waters, the U.S. needs to ensure consistent and predictable climate policies. Uncertainty not only hampers China-U.S. climate initiatives but also slows down the overall pace of global climate actions.
This is why Washington should address this "biggest barrier" by prioritizing stable and unified policies, transcending political division, and engaging in climate cooperation with China and other countries to prevent the climate catastrophe and secure a sustainable future for the next generation.
Emilia Fernandez, a special commentator for CGTN, is a security and political analyst with a focus on South Asian geopolitics, and PhD researcher at the University of Lucerne, Switzerland.
