--- title: Action on Climate Change Won't Improve U.S.-China Relations description: There's little chance that joint action on climate change will really improved U.S.-China relations, writes Ian bremmer. canonical: https://time.com/5958016/climate-change-u-s-china-relations/ author: Ian Bremmer article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2021-04-24T11:00:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T09:53:36.490Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Why Action Against Climate Change Is Unlikely to Improve U.S.-China Relations og:description: "If the U.S. and China must compete, it should at least be in service of a cause that benefits the world." og:url: https://time.com/5958016/climate-change-u-s-china-relations/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0a1f0fa57f1b4192/698a1908b3fce3baf40c7e03/climate-change-china.jpeg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Fishery-solar Hybrid Photovoltaic Power Station In Hefei og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why Action Against Climate Change Is Unlikely to Improve U.S.-China Relations twitter:description: "If the U.S. and China must compete, it should at least be in service of a cause that benefits the world." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0a1f0fa57f1b4192/698a1908b3fce3baf40c7e03/climate-change-china.jpeg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why Action Against Climate Change Is Unlikely to Improve U.S.-China Relations > Sponsored content. 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It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent.  by [Ian Bremmer](https://time.com/author/ian-bremmer/)  ## Ian Bremmer Apr 24, 2021 11:00 AM UTC  Aerial view of solar panels installed atop a reservoir at a fishery-solar hybrid photovoltaic power station on March 25, 2021 in Anhui, Hefei Province of China. Aerial view of solar panels installed atop a reservoir at a fishery-solar hybrid photovoltaic power station on March 25, 2021 in Anhui, Hefei Province of China. Photo by Ruan Xuefeng/VCG via Getty Images  by [Ian Bremmer](https://time.com/author/ian-bremmer/)  ## Ian Bremmer Apr 24, 2021 11:00 AM UTC For both China and the U.S., leading the charge against climate change is a geopolitical opportunity unlike any other. And that’s exactly the problem for those hoping the common threat of global warming will improve [U.S.-China relations](https://time.com/5920725/us-china-competition/) any time soon. For Washington, steering the worldwide fight against climate change is part of an effort to reassert global leadership after the Trump years, a key motivation underpinning this week’s U.S.-orchestrated [Earth Summit](https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/us-pledges-halve-its-emissions-by-2030-renewed-climate-fight-2021-04-22/). For Beijing, fronting a successful campaign against climate change provides conclusive proof to the rest of the world that not all roads need run through Washington—a missed opportunity for the Chinese during the pandemic given Beijing’s stumbling vaccine diplomacy. The optimists will say that climate change is different than all the other fights Beijing and Washington are currently thrashing out. Working together to avert global warming is obviously positive-sum: everyone wins from a world where the polar ice caps don’t melt and destructive weather events don’t happen with increasing frequency. Unfortunately, the road to that outcome is much more competitive: any U.S. success in building better international relationships to combat climate change—not to mention giving U.S. businesses the resources and incentives to successfully confront climate challenges—will come at the expense of Chinese influence abroad. For years, [China’s Belt and Road Initiative](https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/chinas-massive-belt-and-road-initiative) of external financing to help other countries build critical infrastructure projects was unmatched by any development efforts from the U.S. But under new climate change initiatives, the U.S. now has a way to mitigate China’s influence by pushing private sector investment, public economic aid and trade regulations towards greening the world… and expanding its own influence in the process. Maybe it was possible to avoid this troubling state of affairs, but the relationship has deteriorated too much at this point to avoid confrontation on climate and all else—neither the U.S. nor China can escape the constraints of their domestic politics. China has embraced the narrative it has sold to its citizens that the U.S. is in terminal decline and trying to hold China down; in the U.S., [anti-China sentiment](https://www.npr.org/2020/09/23/913650298/as-u-s-views-of-china-grow-more-negative-chinese-support-for-their-government-ri) is one of the few subjects on which lawmakers from both parties can still agree. For all the positivity on the climate change front this week and the Earth Day summit, we need to brace for more U.S.-China competition in this arena rather than cooperation. Vying for climate change leadership will be less intense than the fights over trade, technology, and human rights already underway given the broad understanding that both countries benefit in the long run from mitigating climate change. But relations will still be plenty competitive, especially as addressing climate change touches on enough other contentious issues (renewable energy exports, tech IP, international financing and terms that go along with it, etc…) that will prevent the two countries from putting aside their differences and fighting together the most pressing threat of our lifetimes. But let’s end on a more optimistic note. This past week has highlighted that there is now a more serious approach underway to deal with the climate change threat that affects us all. Europe stands to benefit by being the policy-leader in setting environmental standards and playing intermediary between the U.S. and China on the geopolitical front, both of which bolster its credentials as a critical geopolitical power while also advancing its goal of greening the world. For China, a global move away from fossil fuels makes it less vulnerable to its own foreign oil needs while also allowing it to export the green technologies (think solar panels and wind turbines) and the rare earth metals and minerals they need to run on to the rest of the world, which could put China on the path to becoming the first green energy superpower. And the U.S. now has a [green energy avenue](https://www.climatechangenews.com/2021/04/22/us-pledges-double-international-climate-finance-earth-day-summit/) to extend financing and support (and thereby influence) to other countries while retaining the wealth and innovation that continues to make it indispensable as a global leader, if not necessarily the _only_ global leader. Cooperation is better than competition when it comes to fighting climate change. But competition over addressing climate change is preferable than the denialism of the past decades. 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