Outrage + Optimism: The Climate Podcast17 Apr 2025

China's Decarbonisation Leadership: Is Trump (accidentally) fueling Beijing's climate takeover?

As the US retreats from international climate leadership and looks increasingly inwards, can China step up and steer the global energy transition? And if it can, what shape will that transition take?

In the latest of our country deep-dives, Christiana Figueres, Tom Rivett-Carnac and Paul Dickinson explore China’s pivotal and complex role in decarbonising our world. At home, the nation is a technology superpower, the driver behind the renewables and EV revolutions, and dominates the world in solar panels, batteries and green hydrogen. But it’s also a coal-powered polluter, with a history of taking a backseat in traditional climate diplomacy on the international stage. So, with global geopolitics and trade realigning, is it about to pick a lane?

To unpack all this, the team is joined by Li Shuo, Director of the China Climate Hub at the Asia Society Policy Institute. At a time of flux, he outlines the complex forces shaping China’s strategy, and considers what we might expect to see from it in the years ahead.

Above all, one thing is clear: China’s role will be a defining force in the next decade of climate progress. And the impact of its action - or inaction - will be felt around the world.

Learn more

🔩 ‘China halts critical rare earth mineral exports as Trump teases new tariffs’ from the Independent
🔋 BloombergNEF’s update on global investments into the energy transition, highlighting China’s role
💥 ‘China hits out at Trump's "blackmail" and spells out conditions for ending trade war’ in TAG24

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Producer: Ben Weaver-Hincks

Video Producer: Caitlin Hanrahan

Executive Producer: Dino Sofos

Commissioning Editor: Sarah Thomas

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