In the past it’s been the U.S. pushing China to clean up its energy portfolio and lower emissions, but under Trump the tables could turn, says The New York Times.
China has publicly called on all signatories, including the U.S., of the Paris climate treaty to respect the pact. Trump has said he will back out of the deal and this week signed an executive order to reverse the Obama-era Clean Power Plan, which lowered carbon emissions from coal plants.
“On Wednesday, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said at a regularly scheduled news conference in Beijing that all countries in the Paris Agreement should ‘fulfill their commitments’ and that China would stick to its pledges ‘regardless of how other countries’ climate policies change,” reports the Times.
China still uses more coal than all other countries combined, but government officials there acknowledge that the country needs to seek out cleaner energy sources. They have gone so far as to limit the burning of coal in the top three most populated areas, and have announced a new countrywide cap-and-trade program to curb greenhouse gas emissions, slated to start later this year.
“A report released in January by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, based in Ohio, said China was the world leader in domestic investment in renewable energy and associated low-emissions-energy sectors, with $103 billion invested in 2015,” says the Times.
“While Trump’s administration seems to believe that action on climate change is a waste of money and threatens jobs in the U.S., China sees investment in climate-related action as essential to secure a safe and prosperous future for Chinese citizens,” says Isabel Hilton, founder of Chinadialogue, a website that covers environmental issues and policy.