China Aspires to be an Environmental Leader: How Should the Rest of the World Engage?
China has transformed from a laggard to a rising leader of environmental governance. It plays a unique and essential role in promoting environmental cooperation, financing and implementing global green infrastructure, and generating and disseminating environmental technology and scientific knowledge. On each front, global progress cannot be made without China, especially with the US’ retreat from global leadership under the second Trump presidency. In this article, we consider China's concrete, multifaceted environmental efforts over the last decade and show China's various motives: it is partly responding to critiques of its massive environmental footprint; partly pursuing greater respect as a responsible global power; and partly seeking economic and political gains through clean energy transition, a greener planet, and a more stable climate. We call for new approaches to engaging China's aspiration to become a global environmental leader, while asserting clear expectations and responsibilities in that role.
Authors
- Niklas Werner Weins (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1345-6720)
- Xuequn Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1557-8265)
- KuoRay Mao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4067-6059)
- Juliet Lu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5355-9009)
- Jessica C. Liao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8691-3163)
- Jesse Rodenbiker (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6889-4958)
- Yixian Sun (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2415-2327)
- Jessica DiCarlo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1178-5053)
- Coraline Goron (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9729-0870)
- Tyler Harlan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5150-3554)
- Deborah Seligsohn (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8652-044X)
- Annah Lake Zhu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0439-6677)
- Yifei Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5156-0161)
Institutions
- Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (US)
- North Carolina State University (US)
- University of British Columbia (CA)
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- University of Utah (US)
- University of California System (US)
- Loyola Marymount University (US)
- Rutgers Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (NL)
- Duke Kunshan University (CN)
- University of Bath (GB)
- New York University (US)
- Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (CN)
- Villanova University (US)
- Wageningen University & Research (NL)
- Colorado State University (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of Current Chinese Affairs
- Published
- 2025-12-18
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1177/18681026251400351
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Ayn Rand and Brontë studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 6.26
Funders
- UK Research and Innovation
- Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada
- Global Affairs Canada