Pathways for U.S.–China Climate Cooperation Under the Biden Administration

Abstract

The Biden administration should extend US–China climate change cooperation, and pursue opportunities for virtuous competition that can accelerate global climate mitigation. Obama-era efforts saw the United States and China develop a tangible climate partnership that was fundamental to the construction and enactment of the Paris Agreement. Following rollbacks from President Trump, Biden has the chance to reinvigorate and evolve the former partnership for the current state of both the climate challenge and the wider US–China relationship. This chapter offers eight recommendations for how: (1) return to regular climate dialogue that [re]builds trust and familiarity; (2) develop adjacent bilateral climate goals that create mutual accountability and signal ambition to the rest of the world; (3) negotiate to buttress climate finance and roll back coal investment through major international venues; (4) drive virtuous competition with China through strategic infrastructure and R&D investments; (5) mainstream climate issues in bilateral trade relations, at the WTO, and through the potential deployment of carbon border adjustment tools; (6) expand and support track- II, subnational, and sectoral dialogue to find areas of pragmatic climate cooperation; (7) help find mutually acceptable solutions to outstanding barriers to Paris Agreement implementation, particularly the exchange of mitigation outcomes across borders; and (8) insulate climate change from spoilers rooted in other avenues of the US–China relationship.

The views and opinions expressed in this chapter are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of any organizations with which the author is affiliated.