As US struggles for China deals, California finds common ground with EV, pollution provincial climate pacts
- China has maintained economic ties with the US west coast states of California, Oregon and Washington despite bilateral tensions at a national level
- California signed its most recent pact with Hainan in August, including academic cooperation on air pollution, carbon neutrality and zero-emission vehicles
A number of climate-related deals signed by the populous US state of California and counterparts in China are helping both sides control air pollution and promote the use of electric vehicles, all while advancing diplomacy between two countries which have struggled at the national level over the past six years.
The western US state, which has a US$3.7 trillion economy, signed its most recent pact with the island province of Hainan in August.
The accord calls for improving academic exchanges and cooperation on air pollution, carbon neutrality and zero-emission vehicles.
This is not just about two regions. This is about China and the US needing to work together
“That’s very encouraging,” said Ma Jun, founding director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, a non-governmental advocacy group in Beijing.
“This is not just about two regions. This is about China and the US needing to work together, but [finding it hard] due to the geopolitical challenges.”
To help achieve a stated nationwide goal of reaching carbon neutrality by 2060, former United Nations economic affairs undersecretary general Sha Zukang – now an honorary dean at Fudan University – advocated at a Beijing trade show in September that China should “accelerate” environmental standards for the “high-energy consumption and high-emission service sectors”.
China and the US have been at odds since 2017 over trade, technology, support for Russia and the fate of Taiwan.
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But it has maintained economic ties with the US west coast states of California, Oregon and Washington, while its purchases of farm products have sustained interactions with Midwest farm states.
And in signing the deal with California, Hainan may be looking for ways to manage pollution from its oil and gas sector, Ma added.
Its petrochemical industry, fed in part by offshore gas and oil drilling, will reach US$27.56 billion by 2025, according to the Hainan 2022 Free Trade Port Investment Guide.
But Hainan has also become the “most ambitious” province in China to set goals for removing petrol-powered vehicles, Ma said.
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The island intends to ban the sale of fossil-fuel powered vehicles and reach peak carbon emissions by 2030 – the same year set by the central government for nationwide emissions.
The province stood out last year by issuing so-called blue bonds, with proceeds being used in areas including ocean conservation, said Jingwei Jia, a Hong Kong-based research associate with Sustainable Fitch.
Hainan is “looking for technological solutions” in the climate space, she added.
Chen Zhiwu, chair professor of finance at the University of Hong Kong, said that it also makes sense for tourism to “make some commitments on the environmental and climate side”.
Tourist arrivals have also grown by more than 10 per cent since 2010, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, with income reaching 138.4 billion yuan (US$18.9 billion) in 2021.
The climate agreements with California have allowed government-approved experts from both sides to share ideas on climate change related to consumption and industry, said Alex Wang, a University of California, Los Angeles law professor and a faculty co-director of the university’s Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.
The exchanges were already “active” when the US withdrew from the Paris Agreement on climate change in 2017 under former president Donald Trump, Wang said.
Participants from California have shared tips on industrial policy and energy transition, with some discussion centred on monitoring and reporting factory pollution in China, said Wang, who sits on the academic advisory committee of the California-China Climate Institute.
You could say there’s an economic motive in the background
China has improved emissions control over the past two years, the professor added.
“You could say there’s an economic motive in the background,” Wang added.
“Until a decade ago, it was a West-to-East transfer, but in the past 10 years, China has been moving faster, like in electric vehicles.”
The institute, which is under the University of California, Berkeley, held a dialogue with the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries in 2020.
Making personal connections on the issue of climate change could open the door to discussions of sharing know-how in other areas.
Delegates from China have used the exchanges to talk about increasing the use of electric vehicles in California, including the installation of recharging infrastructure, Wang said.
California, the largest US state by population, has made a name in climate change by pledging to reach carbon neutrality by 2045 and relying on 90 per cent of clean energy by 2035.
China has moved ahead with renewable energy, especially solar, said Ma from the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs.
“California is a treasure house of tech knowledge and innovation because of Silicon Valley,” said Denny Roy, a senior fellow at the East-West Centre think tank in Hawaii.
“Making personal connections on the issue of climate change could open the door to discussions of sharing know-how in other areas.”
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Among the signed climate deals, California and the municipality of Beijing approved a memorandum of understanding in 2016 to develop the Chinese capital as a “low-carbon and liveable city” through dialogue and sharing of expertise.
China and California also set up a clean-air partnership a year later to help commercialise carbon storage and develop information technology linked to the control of greenhouse gas emissions.
In 2019, the state reached an agreement on climate, trade and innovation with China’s eastern Jiangsu province.
And last year, California signed a memorandum of understanding with China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment to cut emissions and promote clean-energy development.
Signing a high-profile deal with a subnational government in a rival country is something unheard of
Four US officials have visited China since June, including the most recent trip by Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo at the end of August.
Washington’s climate envoy, John Kerry, said after visiting in July that the two sides needed more work to reach any deals on top climate issues.
“Signing a high-profile deal with a subnational government in a rival country is something unheard of, and it probably suggests that there are still some common denominators for the US and China,” said Xu Tianchen, a senior China economist with The Economist Intelligence Unit in Beijing
