Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Domestic politics have stifled how the United States and China handle energy investment from one another. As the dynamics of the U.S. and Chinese energy sectors change, new opportunities for cooperation will arise.
To successfully meet China's goals of capping coal production and consumption, Beijing must pursue reforms in how energy data is reported. Statistical reporting should be done independent of local government officials to insure more accurate results.
Until U.S. tax and securities oversight laws level the playing field by rewarding energy companies for making bets on renewables and remove the incentives for going after ever more fossil fuels, drilling for oil in ever more dangerous places will continue.
Given the fundamental differences between new liquid hydrocarbons—technologically, economically, geographically, and environmentally—it will become increasingly important to parse out the differing climate impacts between oils and choose wisely.
While worldwide supplies of accessible oil are growing, the array of emerging unconventional oil is diversifying. These new oil sources pose important energy, environmental, security, and climate challenges.
Chinese coal emissions are a major contributor to climate change. Although the Chinese government has pledged to cap coal production and consumption by 2015, more effective policies are needed to reduce the use of coal in the country.
It is time to move the global climate agenda forward by exploring alternative platforms for collaboration.
With UN climate talks seemingly losing momentum, China should step up domestic mitigation ambitions, not least because they serve the country’s own interests.
Policy guidance is needed to strike a balance between exploiting new energy assets from unconventional oils and protecting the climate.
The climate conditions in the western United States should serve as a reminder that it is best to be deliberate and prudent on unconventional oil development their larger implications are fully understood.