3 Ways to Harness Environmental Cooperation with China at Stockholm+50
By Cecilia Springer and Rebecca Ray
Environmental cooperation has been a key bedrock of successful collaboration between China and Western countries, starting with the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, Sweden 50 years ago. Cooperation, not isolation, brought China to the table for the landmark Paris Agreement on climate change in 2015, and inspired China’s net-zero emissions pledge in 2020. China’s 2021 pledge to end overseas coal finance also enabled the G20 to make a similar pledge shortly thereafter.
Given today’s pressing need for urgent global action on climate and conservation, the 50th anniversary and bicentennial convening of the Stockholm environment conference from June 2-3, known as Stockholm+50, should serve as inspiration to resist the rhetoric of division and instead redouble cooperation efforts to pursue joint climate and environment goals with China.
China’s journey to global environmental governance
Global environmental cooperation seeded China’s own environmental policy. In 1972, the same year the first Stockholm conference brought countries together to address environmental issues, the average per capita GDP in China was just $132. At that time, China was emerging from the disastrous environmental effects of the Great Leap Forward. Under Mao Zedong, China’s approach to reshaping and overcoming the natural environment was termed a “war against nature.” In 1972, China had joined the UN, while many within China still viewed environmental problems as unique to capitalist societies. However, China’s participation in the 1972 Stockholm conference marked a turning point in China’s environmental history and spurred the emergence of Chinese environmental policy and regulation. The year after the conference, China’s State Council convened its own Conference on Environmental Protection, followed by increasing bureaucratic structure to support environmental policymaking.
Another global environmental convening contributed further to the development of China’s environmental policy. The 1992 Rio Summit (officially, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development) again gathered countries from around the world, including China, to address the emerging concept of sustainable development. As detailed by Xie Zhenhua, China’s climate envoy and former head of what would become the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE), this led China to set a domestic sustainable development agenda, and in 1998, China’s State Environmental Protection Administration (now MEE) was established by elevating the former bureau to the ministry level.
Not only have these multilateral environmental fora spurred environmental policymaking in China, but as a global economic powerhouse, the country now plays a key role in successful environmental cooperation on a global level, and demonstrated leadership via convening in its own right. China first hosted a UN environmental conference in 2017, the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, which took place in Ordos, Inner Mongolia. China is also slated to host the second part of the 15th Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP) later this year.
As China’s global footprint expands via the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China is increasingly paying attention to environmental governance not only domestically but also outside its own borders. A recent guidance on green BRI development demonstrated China’s commitment to applying principles of sustainable development to its overseas activity. Going forward, cooperation via multilateral environmental fora will be more important than ever to mitigate the environmental impacts of the BRI.
Three areas of opportunity
At Stockholm+50, attention to three areas can help harness this moment of cooperation for other countries, especially Western countries, to work with China for the better of the global environment.
1. Intensify climate cooperation
China has been highly willing to cooperate on specific areas of climate mitigation, such as reducing methane emissions, which was a focus of the US-China Joint Glasgow Declaration on Enhancing Climate Action in the 2020s, released last year at the Glasgow climate talks known as COP26. As China seeks to decarbonize its overseas engagement, there is room for climate cooperation to move the BRI from brown to green energy and meet growing demand for sustainable, climate-compatible infrastructure in developing countries. Venues such as the annual climate talks and the G20 will remain important platforms for Western countries to engage with China and raise new commitments. Deeper cooperation will entail moving towards co-financing mechanisms, such as creating new joint climate or clean energy funds or scaling up engagement in existing ones that China contributes to, such as the Green Climate Fund.
2. Reduce biodiversity risks
Last year, China announced the Kunming Biodiversity Fund for protecting biodiversity in developing countries. China and other countries can move this fund towards operation by contributing additional capital and identifying key projects that require funding. Beyond the Kunming fund, China and other countries should raise their financing commitments for conservation efforts. To go along with financing commitments, China has developed regulatory frameworks to govern risks to biodiversity for BRI projects that go beyond host country requirements towards international best practices. Ongoing cooperation on how to monitor and achieve these international best practices is needed, and triangular exchange between China and countries with a longer history of overseas engagement could improve regulatory frameworks in host countries.
3. Increase cooperation for infrastructure development
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Scaling up cooperation across these three areas can set the tone for the next 50 years of progress on environmental issues, which have become only more urgent since the first Stockholm conference in 1972. With China now playing a major role in the course of global climate, biodiversity and development outcomes, environmental cooperation is more necessary than ever.
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