Subsidizing global decarbonization: how Chinese state support for clean technologies enables and (potentially) obstructs a worldwide green transition

Over the last decade, green technologies have been deployed at record-breaking speeds across the world. No actor has been more important to this process than China, which now dominates what is considered the ‘new three’ technologies (batteries, electric vehicles, solar). In this viewpoint article, we identify a two-step phenomenon that is reshaping global climate politics. First, we contend that, in effect, China is subsidizing a global green transition. While climate policy scholarship provides detailed accounts of China’s state support, it does not capture the critical ramifications of China’s approach to the green transition for other countries. Second, we argue that internal competition within China is increasingly having an impact outside of China. This two-step phenomenon jointly creates a yet underexplored tension at the heart of climate policy between the ability to compete with China and meeting climate targets. We therefore argue that the implications of Chinese dominance present dilemmas for the EU, the US, as well as other countries, and, by extension, avenues for the literature on global climate policy for decades to come.

James Jackson & Mathias Larsen (2026) Subsidizing global decarbonization: how Chinese state support for clean technologies enables and (potentially) obstructs a worldwide green transition, Climate Policy, DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2026.2640257