Chinese President Xi Jinping has used China's 19th National Congress not just to anoint himself the Great Helmsman but also to firmly enshrine environmental protection in the country's development path.
The resolution of the CCP's Central Committee report, published at the end of the Congress, specifically seeks to "promote green development, solve prominent environmental problems" and "work to develop a new model of modernization with humans developing in harmony with nature." While this might sound like vacuous newspeak, the sad fact of the matter is that in the absence of U.S. leadership, Beijing's policies are likely to set the global agenda.
All year long, Xi has been scoring points with the international community almost exclusively through discursive acts, namely showing up and saying the right things. As a vocal defender of the Paris Climate agreement, Xi secured more supporters after he chastised U.S. President Donald Trump for withdrawing the United States from the accord. One week after the U.S. withdrawal, Beijing hosted a high-level international forum for energy ministers. At the meeting, Chinese officials assured that China's Paris agreement targets would be met on, or before, the target date and delivered a presentation on the value of clean renewable energy sources over coal or natural gas.