Executive summary:
The withdrawal of the United States (U.S.) from the Paris Agreement has destabilised global climate governance. This generates growing pressure on the European Union (EU) and China to assume greater responsibility for driving international climate action. Under the Paris Agreement, both remain committed to further reduce their greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions. Yet, diverging domestic priorities, rising trade competition, and growing geo-economic tensions risk undermining their ability to cooperate effectively.
At the heart of this challenge lies a key dimension of global climate policy that remains largely neglected: non-CO₂ GHGs and short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs), such as methane and black carbon (BC). Those pollutants are responsible for nearly half of observed global warming and cause severe health damage, yet they remain largely absent from the EU–China climate dialogue and technical cooperation. Their reduction represents one of the most effective near-term strategies to curb warming and deliver immediate health co-benefits.
This brief argues that the EU should recalibrate its climate diplomacy with China by embedding the climate–air quality nexus into its strategic approach. Doing so would strengthen Europe’s credibility as a global climate leader, leverage China’s domestic experience with air pollution control, and fill the geopolitical vacuum left by U.S. retrenchment.
Policy recommendations:
- Place SLCP reductions with a focus on methane and black carbon at the centre of EU–China climate diplomacy, building on existing bilateral dialogues and multilateral cooperation opportunities.
- Enhance transparency and monitoring of non-CO₂ emissions using joint EU–China scientific cooperation and satellite-based verification systems to measure more accurately progress in emissions reduction.
- The EU-China climate cooperation agenda needs a reboot with more discerning narratives re-opening the door to joint action on reducing SLCPs that affects both climate warming and public health.
- The EU and China could jointly frame action on methane and black carbon emissions reduction as an urgent measure to protect the world’s glaciers and cryosphere in the Arctic and the Himalayan Plateau (aka ‘Third Pole’) by adopting a coordinated action plan for which China and the EU both have a major reduction potential.
Stay tuned with us by reading more: ReConnect China Policy Brief 29-Rethinking EU–China Climate Diplomacy