China's Approach to Environmentalism
From The US-China Podcast by National Committee on U.S.-China Relations
April 22, 2026 · 12 min
About this episode
The episode discusses China's environmental movement and its approach to climate policy in comparison to the United States.
China is the largest manufacturer, installer, and user of clean energy and electric vehicles. , At the same time, it emits more greenhouse gasses than any other country. While efforts to work with the United States on climate issues have stalled in recent years, a combination of grass roots activism and long term government policy are driving China's environmental movement forward. How does China approach environmentalism? Can the United States and China resume cooperation on climate? Alex Wang joined us on April 1, 2026 to discuss these questions and share how climate policy differs between the United States and China. Alex's new (open-source) book Chinese Global Environmentalism looks at how and why China is approaching global green development. The book explores how China got from a period of environmental crisis to a period of relative success and examines both both challenges and successes in-depth. Read Alex's bio and watch the video here .
People in this episode
Guest: Alex Wang
Topics covered
- environmentalism
- climate policy
- U.S.-China relations
- clean energy
- grassroots activism
Keywords
- China
- environmentalism
- climate change
- clean energy
- electric vehicles
- greenhouse gases
- U.S.-China cooperation
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: National Committee on U.S.-China Relations
Books & works: Chinese Global Environmentalism
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