Abstract
China’s perceptions of climate justice have changed since 2007, affecting the country’s domestic climate policies and its actions internationally. This study takes 2007 as a starting point, as that was a milestone year in China: climate change was made a national priority issue. Examining China’s views as to what were perceived as ‘fair’ regarding climate actions around 2007, we compare these with more recent perceptions of what ‘climate justice’ entails for China’s climate responsibilities. We find that China’s perceptions have changed regarding what being a ‘responsible’ country entails. From seeing itself as a developing country that should focus on other pressing challenges, China now views itself as a leading developing country that must reduce carbon emissions as soon as possible, and also as a donor providing aid to less wealthy developing countries. With ongoing feedback between the international and domestic levels on climate change, the principle of unequal burden sharing has also been incorporated into how China now delegates its domestic climate and energy targets, demanding more of its developed provinces and areas.
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Notes
The FYPs are the leading policy documents in China, setting the direction and targets for its development 5 years at a time. In addition to the main FYP, sectoral FYPs are issued within each 5-year period.
The other pillars are the economy, politics, culture and society.
22,914.7 TWh in 2014 and 22,852.9 TWh in 2020 (Ritchie and Roser 2020).
The legislative branches of the government. The meetings are often referred to as the ‘two meetings’ (两会).
Coal used in rural heating and small industry.
These four municipalities have provincial-level status and provincial-level target obligations. Other cities are allocated reduction targets as part of the province in which they are located.
Professor at Tsinghua University, a senior energy and climate expert with high standing in China.
Wang Canfa is professor at China University of Political Science and Law and is the founder and director of the groundbreaking Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims.
The first White Paper on China’s foreign aid policy was issued in 2011 (Weigel 2016).
CGIT records only transactions of 95 million USD or more, so the total investment figure is greater than 787 billion USD. The following paragraph discusses investment figures from the CGIT.
As per January 2023 the CGIT dataset is updated up until June 2022.
Abbreviations
- CBDR :
-
The ‘common but differentiated responsibilities’ principle
- CGIT :
-
The China Global Investment Tracker
- CIDCA :
-
The China International Development Cooperation Agency
- CNPC :
-
China National Petroleum Corporation
- COP :
-
The UNFCCC Conference of Parties
- FOCAC :
-
The Forum on China–Africa Cooperation
- GHG :
-
Greenhouse gases
- PA :
-
The Paris Agreement
- UNEP :
-
The United Nations Environmental Program
- UNFCCC :
-
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
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Stensdal, I., Heggelund, G. Changes in China’s climate justice perceptions: domestic and international consequences. Asia Eur J 21, 459–480 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10308-023-00678-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10308-023-00678-6