(Understanding China) Xi’s climate push contrasts sharply with Trump’s rollback

As the United States hurtles away from climate commitments under Donald Trump, China is presenting a starkly different vision of the global green transition under Xi Jinping.

China has put forth a strategy that blends domestic decarbonisation with calls for multilateral cooperation and support for developing countries.

Trump’s recent move to weaken Washington’s climate commitments has revived a familiar trans-Pacific divide.

While the US appears to be retreating from international climate leadership, Beijing is reaffirming its intention to press ahead with cleaner energy, emissions control, and global climate governance.

In a report to the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, Xi pledged tighter control over both the volume and intensity of energy use, especially fossil fuels, alongside a gradual shift toward managing carbon emissions on the same dual basis.

The commitment signals China’s determination to move beyond growth-at-all-costs toward what Beijing frames as high-quality development.

Xi outlined a broad transformation of the economy, promising to accelerate clean, low-carbon, and high-efficiency energy use across industry, construction, and transport.

While acknowledging China’s continued reliance on coal, he stressed that it would be burned in cleaner and more efficient ways, even as authorities expand exploration of oil and natural gas and seek to unlock untapped reserves to guarantee energy security during the transition.

Hydropower development, Xi said, would be carefully balanced with ecological protection, while nuclear energy would be advanced in an active, safe and orderly manner.

At the same time, China plans to boost the carbon-sink capacity of ecosystems through reforestation and conservation, a strategy aimed at offsetting emissions while restoring degraded landscapes.

Beyond domestic policy, Xi has consistently framed climate change as a shared global challenge that demands cooperation rather than confrontation.

During a joint national science and technology forum, he urged countries to foster “an open, fair, equitable and non-discriminatory environment” for scientific progress, arguing that collaboration is essential to addressing climate change, food security, and energy security so that innovation delivers broader benefits to humanity.

At a national eco-civilisation conference in 2023, Xi called for comprehensive planning that links industrial restructuring, pollution control, environmental protection, and climate response.

He also highlighted the need to strengthen China’s capacity to adapt to climate impacts, while pushing for self-reliance in green and low-carbon technologies.

Climate response and new-pollutant treatment, he said, should become core areas of national research, with breakthroughs pursued in key technologies.

His message has extended to global biodiversity and multilateralism. At a 2022 conference linked to the UN biodiversity framework, Xi urged nations to translate ambition into action, support developing countries, and coordinate responses to climate change, biodiversity loss, and other planetary threats.

He stressed the importance of a fair international order underpinned by international law and “true multilateralism” language that positions China as a defender of collective action at a time when Washington is pulling back.

That contrast has sharpened following Trump’s latest climate reversal, which critics say undermines years of global momentum toward emissions reduction.

During his first term in office, Trump withdrew the US from the Paris Agreement and rolled back environmental regulations, arguing they constrained American industry, a stance he is now reviving.

Xi, by comparison, has repeatedly linked climate action with development, especially for poorer nations.

He has said that building a just world of shared prosperity requires helping developing countries adopt sustainable production and lifestyles, strengthen environmental protection, and achieve harmony between humanity and nature.

China, he added, stands ready to deepen international cooperation in green infrastructure, renewable energy, green mining, and low-carbon transport, pledging support to developing nations “to the best of its ability.”

For Africa, Asia, and Latin America — regions already bearing the brunt of extreme weather — the divergence between Beijing and Washington matters.

While the US reconsiders its commitments, China is positioning itself as a partner in climate adaptation and green growth, even as it grapples with its own massive emissions footprint.

The result is a widening philosophical gap: Trump’s America prioritises short-term economic interests and energy nationalism, while Xi’s China is advancing a state-led green transition tied to global engagement.

Whether Beijing can fully deliver on its climate promises remains an open question. But as the US steps back, China is clearly stepping forward and eager to shape the next phase of the world’s climate response.