--- description: It's been a week since President Trump announced withdraw from the Paris Agreement and China has already taken the lead from the U.S. title: It Didn't Take Long for China to Fill America's Shoes on Climate Change image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt98dbf44df513df10/6988d0e486f68e4a0a6e50e3/clean-energy-china-climate-change.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [climate change](/tag/climate-change/) ## climate change Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # It Didn't Take Long for China to Fill America's Shoes on Climate Change  by [Justin Worland](/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Jun 8, 2017 9:32 PM CUT  People visit a clean energy exhibition on the sidelines of the Clean Energy Ministerial international forum in Beijing on June 6, 2017\. Officials and business leaders from around the world have gathered for the clean energy ministerial meeting in the Chinese capital. People visit a clean energy exhibition on the sidelines of the Clean Energy Ministerial international forum in Beijing on June 6, 2017\. Officials and business leaders from around the world have gathered for the clean energy ministerial meeting in the Chinese capital.Wang Zhao—AFP/Getty Images  by [Justin Worland](/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Jun 8, 2017 9:32 PM CUT Just a week after [President Trump](http://time.com/donald-trumps-suite-of-power/ "undefined") announced his decision to withdraw from the [Paris Agreement](http://time.com/4146764/paris-agreement-climate-cop-21/ "undefined"), [China](http://time.com/4800747/china-climate-change-paris-agreement-trump/ "undefined") has already wrestled the mantle of leadership on climate change from the United States. In a high-level meeting of energy ministers in Beijing this week, China played the convening role in bringing together countries from across the globe for a discussion on how to deploy clean energy. The meeting had been scheduled long before Trump’s decision on the Paris Agreement, but the timing sent a clear message about who will lead the fight to address climate change in the coming years. During the four-day meeting, China launched a number of initiatives to advance clean energy and announced partnerships with other governments around the globe to fight climate change. “I didn’t come to Washington, I came to Beijing,” said California Governor Jerry Brown after announcing a joint clean energy effort with Chinese leadership, according to a New York _Times_ [report](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/06/world/asia/xi-jinping-china-jerry-brown-california-climate.html "undefined"). “Well, someday I’m going to go to Washington, but not this week.” The annual clean energy meetings originally began in the early days of the Obama presidency under the leadership of then-Energy Secretary Steven Chu, who hosted the first meeting in Washington, D.C. The goal was to create a forum for collaboration on clean energy apart from the annual meetings on climate change that had been occurring since the 1990s. But at this year’s meeting, Energy Secretary Rick Perry played a marginalized role, primarily [promoting](http://time.com/4810418/rick-perry-china-clean-energy/ "undefined") natural gas, nuclear energy and technology to capture carbon dioxide from fossil fuel emissions. Perry said the U.S. would continue to lead on clean energy, but he also challenged China to step up as the country has said it will. “I hope China will step in and attempt to take the mantle away,” Perry said, according to an Associated Press [report](http://time.com/4810418/rick-perry-china-clean-energy/ "undefined"). “It would be a good challenge for them.” China, the world’s largest emitter of climate change-causing carbon dioxide, had [displayed its ambition](http://time.com/4050702/china-shows-its-getting-serious-about-climate-change/ "undefined") to do just that even before Trump’s election last fall. The country has committed to reaching its peak carbon dioxide emissions by 2030, and shrinking emissions after that, even while continuing to grow its economy — and many analysts expect the country to reach that point even earlier. Officials said in January that China would invest more than $350 billion in [domestic renewable power](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-energy-renewables-idUSKBN14P06P "undefined") generation by 2020\. The country will also [expand](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/china-will-start-the-world-s-largest-carbon-trading-market/ "undefined") a cap-and-trade program to stretch across the entire country later this year after operating it at a provincial level. As [Premier Li Keqiang said](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-eu-china-idUSKBN18R3A4 "undefined") after Trump announced his plan to withdraw from the climate deal, “China will stand by its responsibilities on climate change.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4810846/china-energy-climate-change-paris-agreement/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4810846/china-energy-climate-change-paris-agreement/"},"headline":"It Didn't Take Long for China to Fill America's Shoes on Climate Change","datePublished":"2017-06-08T21:32:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T05:20:00.011Z","description":"China is stepping up after President Trump announced the U.S. would withdraw from the Paris Agreement","url":"https://time.com/4810846/china-energy-climate-change-paris-agreement/","keywords":["climate change","China","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt98dbf44df513df10/6988d0e486f68e4a0a6e50e3/clean-energy-china-climate-change.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt98dbf44df513df10/6988d0e486f68e4a0a6e50e3/clean-energy-china-climate-change.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"clean energy china climate change","caption":"clean energy china climate change","creditText":"Wang Zhao—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/climate-change/","name":"climate change"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4810846/china-energy-climate-change-paris-agreement/","name":"It Didn't Take Long for China to Fill America's Shoes on Climate Change"}}]}] ```