IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/asiaeu/v20y2022i4d10.1007_s10308-021-00643-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Understanding China’s changing engagement in global climate governance: a struggle for identity

Author

Listed:
  • Jilong Yang

    (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)

Abstract

This article offers a novel understanding of China’s changing engagement in global climate governance over the past decade. This article argues that China has embedded the construction of its international identity, which has been transforming towards what this article conceptualizes to be a ‘Yinling leading power’, in promoting and leading global climate governance. China’s transforming identity construction has contributed to changing its construction of climate justice and led China to proactively undertake more responsibilities, provide international public goods and promote international climate cooperation. Global climate governance has become one of China’s prototypical discursive frames in constructing its new international identity, an important platform where China seeks to share leadership with other major powers and the climate leadership in turn constitutes China’s new identity. However, China’s inadequate response to international expectations and lack of self-reflection in its climate policy have influenced international recognition on its climate leadership and new identity. In general, China’s transforming identity construction and its reconstruction of climate justice have far-reaching implications for China and Europe to cooperate and coordinate in strengthening global climate justice and promoting global climate governance.

Suggested Citation

  • Jilong Yang, 2022. "Understanding China’s changing engagement in global climate governance: a struggle for identity," Asia Europe Journal, Springer, vol. 20(4), pages 357-376, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:asiaeu:v:20:y:2022:i:4:d:10.1007_s10308-021-00643-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s10308-021-00643-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10308-021-00643-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10308-021-00643-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sjur Kasa & Anne Gullberg & Gørild Heggelund, 2008. "The Group of 77 in the international climate negotiations: recent developments and future directions," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 8(2), pages 113-127, June.
    2. Miranda A. Schreurs, 2016. "The Paris Climate Agreement and the Three Largest Emitters: China, the United States, and the European Union," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 4(3), pages 219-223.
    3. Anita Engels, 2018. "Understanding how China is championing climate change mitigation," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 4(1), pages 1-6, December.
    4. Radoslav S. Dimitrov, 2016. "The Paris Agreement on Climate Change: Behind Closed Doors," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 16(3), pages 1-11, August.
    5. Radoslav S. Dimitrov, 2010. "Inside UN Climate Change Negotiations: The Copenhagen Conference," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 27(6), pages 795-821, November.
    6. René Audet, 2013. "Climate justice and bargaining coalitions: a discourse analysis," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 369-386, September.
    7. Robert O. Keohane & Michael Oppenheimer, 2016. "Paris: Beyond the Climate Dead End through Pledge and Review?," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 4(3), pages 142-151.
    8. Paul Harris & Alice Chow & Rasmus Karlsson, 2013. "China and climate justice: moving beyond statism," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 291-305, September.
    9. Paul G. Harris, 2017. "China’s Paris pledge on climate change: inadequate and irresponsible," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 7(1), pages 102-107, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Franziskus Lucke, 2023. "The EU and China in the climate regime: exploring different pathways towards climate justice," Asia Europe Journal, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 429-435, September.
    2. Sirma Altun & Ceren Ergenc, 2023. "The EU and China in the global climate regime: a dialectical collaboration-competition relationship," Asia Europe Journal, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 437-457, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jon Hovi & Tora Skodvin, 2016. "Editorial to the Issue on Climate Governance and the Paris Agreement," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 4(3), pages 111-114.
    2. Peter H. Sand & Jeffrey McGee, 2022. "Lessons learnt from two decades of international environmental agreements: law," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 263-278, June.
    3. Paul G. Harris, 2017. "China’s Paris pledge on climate change: inadequate and irresponsible," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 7(1), pages 102-107, March.
    4. Guri Bang & Jon Hovi & Tora Skodvin, 2016. "The Paris Agreement: Short-Term and Long-Term Effectiveness," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 4(3), pages 209-218.
    5. Shannon K. Orr, 2016. "Institutional Control and Climate Change Activism at COP 21 in Paris," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 16(3), pages 23-30, August.
    6. Karoliina Hurri & Sanna Kopra, 2023. "Applicability of leadership modes outside the negotiation framework: insights from China," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 28(6), pages 1-16, August.
    7. Shengqing Xu, 2023. "China’s climate governance for carbon neutrality: regulatory gaps and the ways forward," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-10, December.
    8. Molina, Chai & Akcay, Erol & Dieckmann, Ulf & Levin, Simon & Rovenskaya, Elena A., 2018. "Combating climate change with matching-commitment agreements," SocArXiv 7yc3g, Center for Open Science.
    9. Alexander Thompson, 2020. "Emerging Powers and Differentiation in Global Climate Institutions," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 11(S3), pages 61-72, October.
    10. Piris-Cabezas, Pedro & Lubowski, Ruben N. & Leslie, Gabriela, 2023. "Estimating the potential of international carbon markets to increase global climate ambition," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    11. Agni Kalfagianni & Oran R. Young, 2022. "The politics of multilateral environmental agreements lessons from 20 years of INEA," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 245-262, June.
    12. Sebastian Oberthür, 2019. "Hard or Soft Governance? The EU’s Climate and Energy Policy Framework for 2030," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 7(1), pages 17-27.
    13. Hongli Liu & Xiaoyu Yan & Jinhua Cheng & Jun Zhang & Yan Bu, 2021. "Driving Factors for the Spatiotemporal Heterogeneity in Technical Efficiency of China’s New Energy Industry," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-21, July.
    14. Nikas, A. & Gambhir, A. & Trutnevyte, E. & Koasidis, K. & Lund, H. & Thellufsen, J.Z. & Mayer, D. & Zachmann, G. & Miguel, L.J. & Ferreras-Alonso, N. & Sognnaes, I. & Peters, G.P. & Colombo, E. & Howe, 2021. "Perspective of comprehensive and comprehensible multi-model energy and climate science in Europe," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 215(PA).
    15. Mario A. Fernandez & Adam J. Daigneault, 2018. "Money Does Grow On Trees: Impacts Of The Paris Agreement On The New Zealand Economy," Climate Change Economics (CCE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 9(03), pages 1-23, August.
    16. Zhu, Sipeng & Ma, Zetai & Zhang, Kun & Deng, Kangyao, 2020. "Energy and exergy analysis of the combined cycle power plant recovering waste heat from the marine two-stroke engine under design and off-design conditions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 210(C).
    17. Zhu, Sipeng & Gu, Yuncheng & Yuan, Hao & Ma, Zetai & Deng, Kangyao, 2020. "Thermodynamic analysis of the turbocharged marine two-stroke engine cycle with different scavenging air control technologies," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    18. Sueyoshi, Toshiyuki & Mo, Fei & Wang, Derek D., 2022. "Sustainable development of countries all over the world and the impact of renewable energy," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 320-331.
    19. Gørild Heggelund & Inga Buan, 2009. "China in the Asia–Pacific Partnership: consequences for UN climate change mitigation efforts?," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 9(3), pages 301-317, August.
    20. Manuela G. Hartwig & Leslie Tkach-Kawasaki, 2019. "Identifying the ‘Fukushima Effect’ in Germany through policy actors’ responses: evidence from the G-GEPON 2 survey," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 53(4), pages 2081-2101, July.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:asiaeu:v:20:y:2022:i:4:d:10.1007_s10308-021-00643-1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.