By Chris Stockburger
DOI: 10.57912/25647588
In November 2023, President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to resume cooperation on climate change and pledged a major ramp-up of renewable energy. In an era defined by increasing geopolitical competition between the two superpowers, climate change has become the one area where the U.S. and China have seen more cooperation than competition, especially as the impact and danger of climate change have increased in recent decades. Despite the shared warnings from the United Nations to “cooperate or perish”, this has not eliminated the struggle between the two states to share knowledge relating to green technology. It is critical, however, to embrace such a relationship between the two states to make progress within the clean energy sector and address international environmental concerns.
Green technology is defined as energy that generates positive environmental impacts or reduces negative environmental impacts. Solar, wind, hydroelectric, biomass, and geothermal energy are all popular strategies for green energy production, and the development of these technologies is the most impactful way to reduce emissions. The International Renewable Energy Agency found that renewables can provide over 90% of the necessary reductions in energy-related carbon emissions. If the world wants any chance at achieving key climate goals and targets, both the United States and China must take major strides to reduce their current level of emissions, as the U.S. and China combined are responsible for nearly half of the world's carbon emissions. As a result, any significant progress in reducing global emissions must start with both superpowers.
The largest barrier to Sino-U.S. cooperation is the risk of geopolitical tensions. Jennifer Lee of the Atlantic Council warned that “Conflict between the two, such as over a flash point like Taiwan, could distract these giants and force green technology advancements to take a back seat to conventional security priorities”. This exact situation has occurred recently, with climate cooperation talks in 2022 being suspended after U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan. Months later when U.S. Climate Envoy, John Kerry, met with senior Chinese officials to discuss resuming climate cooperation, Chinese Vice President Han Zheng threatened to hold political demands over the U.S. in order to resume cooperation. These demands aim at advancing Chinese geopolitical interests, such as removing tariffs, resolving disputes over territorial claims in the South China Sea, and stifling U.S. opposition over human rights violations in the Uyghur region to name a couple of conflicts. While climate cooperation did resume just a couple of months later, China displayed to the U.S. that it is willing to use climate change cooperation to advance its own political interest if push comes to shove. There is also a risk of intellectual property theft from China, which has cost the United States trillions of dollars, especially in the energy sector. Both the U.S. and China will need to overcome these disputes to maintain cooperation and work to achieve key emissions targets.
If successful, exchanging knowledge of green technology would have several benefits for the United States. Most importantly, learning from Chinese green technology will allow the U.S. to reduce its reliance on Chinese manufacturing. After the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States learned the importance of having a strong manufacturing base at home and the risks of relying on countries like China to manufacture critical infrastructure. Especially considering the risk of tensions flaring in the South China Sea, the U.S. must put itself in a position to develop this technology. The U.S. lags behind in manufacturing and production of this technology compared to China, which controls 60% of all global green technology manufacturing capabilities. If the United States’ goal is to become less reliant on China, the U.S. Government must be willing to adopt the green technology practices of China and apply them to its green technology industry at home. Robinson Meyer of the New York Times supported this notion in July of 2023, writing “Rejecting China’s know-how would make us, ironically, more dependent on China in any future security-related rupture — because we will simply have to import from China what we never learned to make ourselves”. China has a particular hegemony over the solar industry, as it commands over 80% of the solar panel manufacturing supply chain. In addition to solar, China mastered battery and electric vehicle industries through the 2010s, while the United States was still debating whether to pass a policy to support green technology. We should learn from the mistakes of the past by cooperating with China, as Meyer concludes that “the United States cannot build a competitive renewable industry from scratch. The history of innovation shows that America will progress only when they can work with Chinese counterparts”. Alongside the numerous economic benefits and jobs created by manufacturing green technology in the U.S., cooperation can also serve as a tool to de-escalate with China and benefit humanity by reducing emissions.
Additionally, the creation of more green technology because of Chinese cooperation would increase U.S. energy independence. Although the U.S. is already energy independent, the development of green technology would ensure that the United States maintains this autonomy as the world prepares to enter a new era of clean technology. The Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy asserts that with additional clean technology, the United States would improve its energy efficiency, increase energy storage, and modernize the U.S. electric grid. If the United States is to maintain its global leadership in the energy sector as the world advances towards clean energy, it is essential that the U.S. leads by example to the rest of the world and displays that a transition to clean energy is economically, politically, and environmentally beneficial.
As the impact of climate change grows every single year, both the United States and China must set aside their previous disputes and work together to increase manufacturing capabilities. While cooperation has restarted, leaders from the U.S. and China must sign a binding agreement between the two countries to prevent the suspension of cooperation in the case of short-term geopolitical tensions. This agreement would also set guidelines to prevent intellectual property theft, promote the sharing of data and technology, and encourage investment into new R&D between the two countries. While cooperation between the two superpowers will not be easy, it is the only way to create meaningful progress in reducing emissions and saving potentially millions of lives over the upcoming decades.
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