Opinion

How to break the climate change stalemate

By Bruce Au and Thomas Hale (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-11-30 10:59

First, China can promote local-to-local cooperation with the US and other countries. For example, US and Chinese city-level governments can link up their efforts to build electric car infrastructure, reducing costs by developing interoperable standards. Nurturing this type of exchange among local organizations—including governments, companies, research institutes, universities, and NGOs—in both countries on far larger scale can make progress where state-to-state negotiations cannot.

Indeed, platforms for cities to work together already exist. For instance, the C40 Cities is a global alliance of 40 ambitious cities from all over the world that together represent more than 20 percent of global GDP. At the beginning of November, the mayor of Changsha attended the C40 Workshop in Hong Kong, and laid out in fluent English the Changsha climate policy, participating on par with the mayors of Toronto, New York, and other advanced cities. The central government should encourage this kind of participation by local Chinese governments with material and moral support.

Second, the central government can support common but differentiated responsibilities inside the country as well. This means encouraging advanced localities to go above and beyond their existing climate goals, and at the same time supporting the transfer of knowledge and resources from advanced localities to other areas of the country. Of course, the government has already set goals that correspond to the differing capabilities and needs of different regions. Our point, however, is that the government should go further, empowering and encouraging Chinese localities to push beyond these top-down targets. For example, the government and citizens of Hong Kong are currently discussing adopting a firm emissions reductions target. The central government should warmly embrace and encourage this and similar initiatives.

Special Coverage: Climate conference in Cancun Related readings:  China to take active role at climate talks  From Copenhagen to Cancun  China, US must fulfill their roles: UN  Cancun climate talks continues with protests  Climate change beyond negotiations

A UN+ strategy would be effective for China both internationally and domestically. At the global level, the world is looking for new solutions. "No one climate agreement that will solve everything right now, to expect that is naive. However, I am certain the world can do this step by step," Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, stated unambiguously ahead of the Tianjin climate conference last month. By articulating a "bottom up" strategy and leading it with concrete examples, China will gradually be seen as a problem-solver.

At the domestic level, a UN+ approach would allow China's existing domestic initiatives to not only achieve international recognition but also expand more effectively. At Copenhagen, China announced a carbon intensity reduction target of 40-45 percent by 2020. Linking these goals to a broader strategy involving non- and sub-state actors collaborating in a global framework can kill two birds with one stone. The forthcoming 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) represents a great opportunity to implement these ideas.

As China's influence on the world grows, its responsibilities will always be the subject of diplomatic tensions. China can ease these by emphasizing its constructive policy proposals based on principles like "harmonious society" or "peaceful rise" in the international arena. A UN+ approach to climate change would make an excellent start.

Bruce Au is from Hong Kong. He has a Master's in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School and currently works at Dalberg Global Development Advisors.

Thomas Hale is from New York. He is a PhD candidate at Princeton University and a visiting fellow at London School of Economics.