Subsidising global decarbonisation: China-UK relations
China’s dominance of the ‘new three’ green technologies (batteries, electric vehicles, solar) is subsidising global decarbonisation and, as a result, is a cause of growing trade disputes. The authors of this report show that as China continues to be the most important determinant of a green transition, there are two broad implications for international climate politics.
First, by subsidising green technologies, China is, in effect, enabling a global transition. While climate observers are coming to acknowledge the prominence of China’s state support, this report suggests the true ramifications of their dominance remain ill-considered.
Second, the report authors suggest that greater progress on a global transition could be made if countries abandoned the idea of competition with China, which they argue is unlikely to succeed, and instead focus on cooperating with China.
Before outlining what the authors see as key policy implications of China’s dominance for international competitors, this report aims to suggest that, whilst this is a positive for climate mitigation efforts, it is, in part, the cause of retrenchment on climate policy for the European Union (EU) and the United States of America (USA). The authors argue that the EU and the USA are indicative of a dilemma facing all countries in the face of China’s ascendant position in the green transition. The implications set out in this report are, however, applicable to economies in the Global North and the Global South.
The report focuses specific attention on the UK. After the decline of the perceived ‘Golden Age’ of China-UK relations (2015-2018), green technologies provide a significant opportunity to reestablish better relations. The China Audit has appeared to have resulted in an overly hawkish position on trading with China, however. Following the election of Andy Burnham as Prime Minister, the authors suggest that amidst an increasingly fractured geopolitical landscape, the UK would benefit from forging closer ties with China. In doing so, the authors suggest that China offers the UK an important opportunity to situate the UK within China’s developed value chain, access a greater supply of green technologies and establish better diplomatic relations.