EU Looks To China For Climate Leadership

New US president Donald Trump has been clear that he is no friend to environmentalists, particularly with regards to climate change. Although there are no concrete actions as of yet from the Trump administration on international climate agreements, there are ominous signs of the US withdrawing support from the hard-won agreements of the Paris Accords of 2015, causing EU leaders to worry about the success of climate mitigation and adaptation strategies.

As the largest carbon emitters, China and the US have been seen as necessary partners in the global fight to manage oncoming climate change, and in Paris the world saw the long-awaited commitments of these two countries. And “with fault lines over Brexit, dependence on Russian energy and protecting industry threatening the bloc's own common policy, some EU diplomats worry Europe is too weak to lead on its own in tackling climate change”.

Thus, as confidence in US involvement wanes, many are shifting to look to Beijing for strong climate leadership, citing its immense investments in green energy such as wind and solar. But others doubt that China is in a place where it can expend as much political and economic capital on climate measures when internal issues of water, air and food safety remain most salient in the eyes of its own citizens.

So the world awaits as domestic politics in China and the US embroil the world of international climate change agreements in great uncertainty. But many people of the world do not have time to wait, for the climate is already changing.