"China’s Climate Balancing Act" - by CWP alum Zongyuan Zoe Liu

NEW YORK – China’s “dual carbon goal” (双碳, shuang tan) of achieving peak carbon emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060 reflects the need to maintain domestic stability amid mounting growth challenges. Climate security is integral to President Xi Jinping’s vision of an “ecological civilization” and his comprehensive national security concept. Environmental protection is enshrined in China’s National Security Law, and by addressing climate risks, China can also tackle various socioeconomic challenges.

Hence, in its 2013 National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy, the government warned that climate change threatens food, water, ecological, energy, urban, and personal security. The Climate Adaptation Strategy 2035, issued in 2022, added supply-chain security and systemic financial risks to the list.

Sep 9, 2024  -  Zongyuan Zoe Liu

Zongyuan Zoe Liu is Maurice R. Greenberg senior fellow for China studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). Her work focuses on international political economy, global financial markets, sovereign wealth funds, supply chains of critical minerals, development finance, emerging markets, energy and climate change policy, and East Asia-Middle East relations. Dr. Liu’s regional expertise is in East Asia, specifically China and Japan, and the Middle East, specifically Gulf Cooperation Council countries. Dr. Liu is the author of Can BRICS De-dollarize the Global Financial System? (Cambridge University Press) and Sovereign Funds: How the Communist Party of China Finances its Global Ambitions (Harvard University Press).

Photo Credit: https://www.project-syndicate.org/magazine/chinese-communist-party-climate-change-brings-risks-and-opportunities-by-zongyuan-zoe-liu-2024-09