

In 2017, the governor of California Jerry Brown (left) met with China’s President Xi Jinping to sign a series of climate agreements.Credit: Imago/Alamy
The relationship between the United States and China stands at a crucial juncture. Given Donald Trump’s recent victory in the US election, the slowdown in China’s economy and rising tensions around trade and technology, productive cooperation between the two countries is far from guaranteed.
President-elect Trump has already indicated that federal policy on climate and environmental issues, among others, might shift drastically. For instance, he has vowed to end offshore wind development on “day one”, halt renewable energy subsidies that were introduced by President Joe Biden under the Inflation Reduction Act and raise tariffs on all imported goods.
Why US–China relations are too important to be left to politicians
If these proposed policy changes take effect under the new administration in January, they will have a pronounced impact on the US–China relationship, which is already fractious. Nevertheless, it is important to recognize that both countries share common vulnerabilities, including weather-related disruption caused by climate change, and have reasons to act jointly in some areas. Indeed, sustained engagement between the world’s two largest economies is crucial for making progress on global challenges.
Fortunately, there are ways of sustaining mutually beneficial action in an era of great power competition. Subnational governments (states, provinces and cities) and non-state actors (businesses, academia, non-profit organizations and philanthropies) can play a crucial part in supporting dialogue and collaboration.
Over the past few years, instead of waiting for clarity on policies from the US federal government, several states have decided to chart their own paths. The Senate Bill 100 in California requires 100% of the state’s electricity to come from renewables by 2045. New York will reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by 40% by 2030 from 1990 levels, through the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. Other states, such as Washington, have enacted similar legislation to ensure progress on renewable-energy adoption and emissions reductions, even in the face of federal disengagement. These efforts mirror broader state-level initiatives to future-proof policies in areas such as health care and civil rights, positioning subnational jurisdictions at the forefront of climate policy and regulation.
Here we describe joint initiatives between California and Chinese agencies and provinces on clean energy and climate action. We highlight areas in which expanding subnational collaboration can be effective and lay out steps to advance the US–China partnership on climate change. Although national governments might be instinctively wary of subnational cooperation, the benefits, in our opinion, far outweigh any perceived risks.
Open spaces for dialogue
Collaboration between California and China has grown over the past decade, in response to shifts in US federal policies. Climate change was a pillar of the US–China relationship during the administration of president Barack Obama, from 2009 to 20171–3. The Trump administration’s subsequent retreat from the 2015 Paris climate agreement and its disengagement with China created a void. California stepped in to help fill it.
In 2017, the then governor of California (one of us, J.B.) met with China’s President Xi Jinping and signed a series of climate and energy-focused agreements between California and several of China’s national agencies and provincial governments. These strengthened earlier ties and built on California’s first memorandum of understanding (MOU) on climate change with China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and Guangdong and Jiangsu provinces, which was signed in 2013.
China and California are leading the way on climate cooperation. Others should follow
When Biden’s administration entered office in 2021, the United States rejoined the Paris agreement. Both countries put forward envoys — John Kerry, the former US secretary of state, and one of us (Z.X) — to aid dialogue and cooperation around climate change. Discussions between the envoys paved the way for a meeting in November 2023 between presidents Biden and Xi during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference held just outside San Francisco, California.
Afterwards, the two countries released a joint statement on enhancing cooperation to address the climate crisis. They identified areas for deeper bilateral collaboration including exchanging know-how on the transition from coal to green energy, methane emissions reductions and waste reduction through more efficient uses of resources.
After the summit, working groups were set up to exchange ideas in each of those domains. Discussions from these groups culminated in a high-level bilateral meeting at the California–China Climate Institute (CCCI) in Berkeley, California, in May this year; participants included the governors of California and the Guangdong province and officials from five cities and four provinces of China4. Specialist groups are now being set up to provide technical support for implementing a joint agenda in areas such as energy decarbonization.

The United States can learn from China’s expertise in offshore wind technology.Credit: Kendall Warner/The Virginian-Pilot/Tribune News Service via Getty
By implementing its commitments to reduce carbon emissions in coordination with Chinese counterparts through region-to-region technical exchange and local pilot programmes, California has shown what’s possible when subnational jurisdictions take the lead and set an example. Other US states looking to enhance their international engagement now have a template.
Although China has a formal mechanism — the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries — to foster relationships with provinces and cities of other countries, the partnership with California is unique because it has signed MOUs with China’s central agencies, such as the NDRC.
The reason why the two sides see great value in such cross-border cooperation can be illustrated through one example. As California gears up for the rapid deployment of offshore-wind projects, few organizations in the United States have the relevant expertise to offer guidance on installing these turbines in ways that minimize their impact on marine habitats. That’s why the state has engaged in continuing dialogue with several Chinese wind-turbine manufacturers.
Meanwhile, China has modelled its new green building regulations after California’s Title 24 standards — a set of building codes that ensure energy efficiency. Beijing’s air-quality management policy has also been informed by existing mechanisms in California. But there is room to broaden these areas of mutual benefit into unexplored domains. Here are three priority areas.
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