Washington, D.C. — The United States and China are enjoying a wave of international goodwill in the climate arena resulting from the role each played in rallying other nations to achieve the iconic Paris climate agreement. Now, as the United States and China put new policies in place to achieve their national targets and fulfill their domestic and international commitments, both countries confront a common challenge: mobilizing sufficient investment at home to meet domestic energy, climate, and environmental protection goals, while at the same time steering outbound investments toward sustainable projects in other nations that support, rather than undermine, those nations’ climate targets.
The Center for American Progress has released an issue brief today today co-authored by Melanie Hart and Pete Ogden of CAP and Kelly Sims Gallagher of Tufts University’s Fletcher School that looks at the key domestic and international policies that are being implemented by the United States and China and evaluates the implications of these policies—both positive and negative—for green investment domestically and globally.
“As much as the United States and China were able to help catalyze global action on greenhouse gas mitigation efforts from developed and developing countries alike in the run-up to Paris, they know that they can and must play a similar leadership role in the green finance space internationally in the post-Paris era,” said Pete Ogden, CAP Senior Fellow and co-author of the brief.
“In the climate investment space, no two countries loom as large as the United States and China,” said Melanie Hart, Senior Fellow and Director of China Policy at CAP and co-author of the brief. “That is why their historic agreement last year has been so impactful to the global effort to combat climate change. They both also face some similar concerns about financing these green initiatives at home, while maintaining their ability to aid other countries in reaching their own goals. There are pathways of cooperation to these challenges that the United States and China need to seriously consider.”
Among the recommendations made in the brief are the following:
- Devise common definitions for “climate finance” and “green finance” and set up a new collaborative initiative on domestic clean energy finance policy.
- Clarify guidelines for both bilateral development aid and overseas investments.
- Establish information-sharing protocols regarding these investments to promote transparency, learning, and improved practices over time.
- Launch a U.S.-China collaboration on mobilizing green finance abroad.
Click here to read the brief.
For more information on this topic or to speak with an expert, contact Tom Caiazza at [email protected] or 202.481.7141.