China as a ‘Partial’ Environmental Great Power

How do we recognize an ‘environmental great power’ when we see one? How do great powers wield ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ power in the contested realm of global environmental governance against the background of ever deeper pluralism in international society? This chapter analyses how and to what extent China defines and acts on its environmental responsibilities as a great power and examines its record in two prominent issue-areas: global climate change and the ‘greening’ of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) with a focus on its renewable energy projects. While China may appear to be an obvious environmental great power due to its capability to cause environmental harm or provide environmental goods, we argue instead that China is a partial environmental great power. That is, while China’s ‘negative’ or structural power in the global, regional, and national environmental realms is stark and clear, its ‘positive’ power or potential to act in favour of environmental responsibility is less obvious and as yet indeterminate. This is due to China’s ‘identity paradox’—it is both a great power and a developing country; and Chinese actors are at once major perpetrators as well as significant victims of environmental degradation. Hence, China’s record of promoting environmental protection and governance is chequered because its decision makers must constantly balance between multiple constituencies and interests that impinge on how China adopts and acts on its environmental responsibilities both at home and abroad.