In the corridors of the United Nations climate summit in Brazil, there had been hopes that China — a vocal advocate of emissions reduction and the powerhouse of clean energy technology — would act as a like-for-like replacement for lost U.S. leadership under President Donald Trump. In the final moments of the two-week COP30 talks, China hasn’t stepped into that role.
Despite China’s splashy presence in the Amazonian city of Belem, where its bustling national pavilion has drawn major crowds, and its efforts to shape the summit’s agenda in advance, there’s little evidence Beijing’s overall approach has shifted into leadership mode. Instead, Chinese diplomats have used the global climate negotiations to oppose trade barriers that threaten the country’s enormous exports of the solar, wind and battery technology. Representatives from Asia’s top economy declined to step forward with an investment in a flagship rainforest conservation fund, limiting Brazil President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s prospects of raising an initially planned $25 billion.
"We are not seeing very convincing signals that China is stepping up,” on traditional climate leadership, said Yao Zhe, a Beijing-based global policy advisor at Greenpeace East Asia, and who is attending the Belem talks.
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