n the past year, Britain has become the first major economy to pass a net zero emissions law by 2030. This statement and the resulting series of policy decisions come against the backdrop of Britain's separation from the European Union. Some argue that for the UK, the decision to end carbon emissions is not just due to the need to combat climate change, but related to the political situation it is in. Britain wants to reinvent itself as an influential force in the international arena, at a time when climate diplomacy has become a hugely popular and meaningful issue that impacts the lives of citizens across the world. This arena, which has not yet been seized by another superpower, has been a convenient haven for Britain’s repositioning as a leader on the international scene.
China's surprise announcement at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) to declare that it was joining the UK’s climate efforts to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, has led us to explore the UK-China relationship and the discourse on climate change. For the research, our digital team used a language processing algorithm, which allowed us to monitor all news articles published in the UK from January to October 2020 on the subject of UK, China, and climate change. We then grouped the articles by language similarities and into topics and analyzed discourse and trends. This article will explore the issues arising from the mapping and their implications for the UK's ability to meet its net-zero target by 2030.
The study found that the issue with the largest volume of coverage surrounding China, the UK and climate change is the political position of Britain in the post-Brexit era, mainly focusing on its position in the U.S.-China conflict (22% of articles). The superpower with which Britain will choose to identify with, either China or the U.S., will have tremendous political significance for its position on the international scene in several aspects. As of today, Britain has had to choose between the US, that under the Trump administration, has been consistently distancing itself from the UK’s natural partner—the EU, and China, which if Britain chooses to stand by it, may dissolve hopes of a partnership with the U.S. This political conflict has immense implications on Britain’s road to achieve its net-zero targets and these implications become clearer as we dive deeper into the findings.
The research unveiled another topic of significance in this discourse—international summits dealing with climate change issues (13%). Among them is the postponed COP26 summit and the 75th UNGA in which Prime Minister Johnson outlined some steps towards reaching the existing 2030 net-zero target. To the surprise of many, a huge breakthrough in climate policy was signaled when Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke at the UNGA: “We aim to have CO2 emissions peak before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. We call on all countries to pursue innovative, coordinated, green and open development for all.” This ambitious statement has broad implications for the climate challenge all over the world.
Policy experts have hailed China’s move as a major step forward. Not only has China itself been one of the world’s greatest emitters but a change in its policies towards a long-term pathway of decarbonization will provide a fresh impetus for the UN to clamp down on climate efforts, that have been sidelined as the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted societies and economies all over the world. Additionally, China’s involvement in dozens of cross-continent infrastructure and energy projects through the Belt and Road Initiative has the potential to generate significant progress in decreasing global carbon emissions. As the issues map highlights, China's involvement is critical for building nuclear power plants in the UK. Nuclear energy currently accounts for about 21% of the UK's energy consumption, and without investment from China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN), the UK might not be able to fund the construction of the critical national infrastructure to achieve its net-zero goals by 2030.
China's new approach to climate change and its goal alignment with the EU and UK can be contrasted against Trumps’ withdrawal from the 2015 Paris Agreement, which has left the U.S. increasingly isolated among major economies. This puts the UK’s position not only in a political conflict, but a substantial one as the UK’s climate goals point towards cooperation with China. Our study found that the issue connecting the UK’s political and practical challenges is the economic and environmental risks that the UK will face if strong action is not taken to combat climate change soon (18%). Those devastating risks discussed by the British media are a strong call to action aimed at the British government, action that is currently stagnant due to the contradicting considerations: politics and practice.
These contradictive considerations could be the reason for Britain’s lack of roadmap to achieve its net-zero goals, a topic on which PM Johnson was highly criticized for after his speech at the UNGA in September. We suggest that although a collaboration with China seems the most effective route to promote emission reduction, such a relationship withholds countless internal and external political challenges. During the ‘golden era’ of relations, the UK claimed that it was “China’s best partner in the West”, yet recent rising controversies over Huawei’s role in the UK’s 5G infrastructure, Britain’s ‘pathway to citizenship’ to three million British National (Overseas) citizens in Hong Kong, and pressure from the U.S. government has created a strain between the two countries in just a few months. This strain is likely to be the consideration that has been preventing the UK from collaborating with China to achieve their mutual goals and the international community’s ability to progress towards a greener future.
The significant presence of the climate crisis on the international agenda provides not only a conflict but rather an opportunity. The global crisis may present a justification for cooperation for the Sino-British relationship and with the right communicative efforts and a clear strategy, will rebuild a relationship that will serve the UK’s political, normative and economic interests. More recently, the result of Joe Biden as president-elect is expected to change this map entirely, due to the challenges facing a Biden administration to determine new climate targets, once it rejoins the Paris climate accord. However, it is still in Britain’s interest to maintain a relationship with the constantly growing superpower, China. Whilst the UK’s route to achieving net-zero goals might be easier with a new presidential administration in place, a softer approach towards China might enable the UK to collaborate with China to achieve mutual climate goals, or even present an opportunity for the U.S. to do the same.
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Britain's Political and Practical Challenges to Achieving Net-Zero Goals
Photo by Patrick Hendry via Unsplash.
November 20, 2020
I
n the past year, Britain has become the first major economy to pass a net zero emissions law by 2030. This statement and the resulting series of policy decisions come against the backdrop of Britain's separation from the European Union. Some argue that for the UK, the decision to end carbon emissions is not just due to the need to combat climate change, but related to the political situation it is in. Britain wants to reinvent itself as an influential force in the international arena, at a time when climate diplomacy has become a hugely popular and meaningful issue that impacts the lives of citizens across the world. This arena, which has not yet been seized by another superpower, has been a convenient haven for Britain’s repositioning as a leader on the international scene.
China's surprise announcement at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) to declare that it was joining the UK’s climate efforts to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, has led us to explore the UK-China relationship and the discourse on climate change. For the research, our digital team used a language processing algorithm, which allowed us to monitor all news articles published in the UK from January to October 2020 on the subject of UK, China, and climate change. We then grouped the articles by language similarities and into topics and analyzed discourse and trends. This article will explore the issues arising from the mapping and their implications for the UK's ability to meet its net-zero target by 2030.
The study found that the issue with the largest volume of coverage surrounding China, the UK and climate change is the political position of Britain in the post-Brexit era, mainly focusing on its position in the U.S.-China conflict (22% of articles). The superpower with which Britain will choose to identify with, either China or the U.S., will have tremendous political significance for its position on the international scene in several aspects. As of today, Britain has had to choose between the US, that under the Trump administration, has been consistently distancing itself from the UK’s natural partner—the EU, and China, which if Britain chooses to stand by it, may dissolve hopes of a partnership with the U.S. This political conflict has immense implications on Britain’s road to achieve its net-zero targets and these implications become clearer as we dive deeper into the findings.
The research unveiled another topic of significance in this discourse—international summits dealing with climate change issues (13%). Among them is the postponed COP26 summit and the 75th UNGA in which Prime Minister Johnson outlined some steps towards reaching the existing 2030 net-zero target. To the surprise of many, a huge breakthrough in climate policy was signaled when Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke at the UNGA: “We aim to have CO2 emissions peak before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. We call on all countries to pursue innovative, coordinated, green and open development for all.” This ambitious statement has broad implications for the climate challenge all over the world.
Policy experts have hailed China’s move as a major step forward. Not only has China itself been one of the world’s greatest emitters but a change in its policies towards a long-term pathway of decarbonization will provide a fresh impetus for the UN to clamp down on climate efforts, that have been sidelined as the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted societies and economies all over the world. Additionally, China’s involvement in dozens of cross-continent infrastructure and energy projects through the Belt and Road Initiative has the potential to generate significant progress in decreasing global carbon emissions. As the issues map highlights, China's involvement is critical for building nuclear power plants in the UK. Nuclear energy currently accounts for about 21% of the UK's energy consumption, and without investment from China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN), the UK might not be able to fund the construction of the critical national infrastructure to achieve its net-zero goals by 2030.
China's new approach to climate change and its goal alignment with the EU and UK can be contrasted against Trumps’ withdrawal from the 2015 Paris Agreement, which has left the U.S. increasingly isolated among major economies. This puts the UK’s position not only in a political conflict, but a substantial one as the UK’s climate goals point towards cooperation with China. Our study found that the issue connecting the UK’s political and practical challenges is the economic and environmental risks that the UK will face if strong action is not taken to combat climate change soon (18%). Those devastating risks discussed by the British media are a strong call to action aimed at the British government, action that is currently stagnant due to the contradicting considerations: politics and practice.
These contradictive considerations could be the reason for Britain’s lack of roadmap to achieve its net-zero goals, a topic on which PM Johnson was highly criticized for after his speech at the UNGA in September. We suggest that although a collaboration with China seems the most effective route to promote emission reduction, such a relationship withholds countless internal and external political challenges. During the ‘golden era’ of relations, the UK claimed that it was “China’s best partner in the West”, yet recent rising controversies over Huawei’s role in the UK’s 5G infrastructure, Britain’s ‘pathway to citizenship’ to three million British National (Overseas) citizens in Hong Kong, and pressure from the U.S. government has created a strain between the two countries in just a few months. This strain is likely to be the consideration that has been preventing the UK from collaborating with China to achieve their mutual goals and the international community’s ability to progress towards a greener future.
The significant presence of the climate crisis on the international agenda provides not only a conflict but rather an opportunity. The global crisis may present a justification for cooperation for the Sino-British relationship and with the right communicative efforts and a clear strategy, will rebuild a relationship that will serve the UK’s political, normative and economic interests. More recently, the result of Joe Biden as president-elect is expected to change this map entirely, due to the challenges facing a Biden administration to determine new climate targets, once it rejoins the Paris climate accord. However, it is still in Britain’s interest to maintain a relationship with the constantly growing superpower, China. Whilst the UK’s route to achieving net-zero goals might be easier with a new presidential administration in place, a softer approach towards China might enable the UK to collaborate with China to achieve mutual climate goals, or even present an opportunity for the U.S. to do the same.
