Climate change: EU proposes green tech alliance with Biden team in US, signalling less reliance on China
- Europe has grown wary of its dependence on China and will look elsewhere for a partner on clean and circular technology
- The EU calls for joint action with the US to build relationships with democracies in the Indo-Pacific region
The European Union has proposed a “new green tech alliance” with Joe Biden’s incoming administration, amid mounting calls for Brussels to stop treating Beijing simply as a partner on climate change issues and also regard it as a competitor.
The concept was included in a new transatlantic agenda put forth by European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, which also proposes China should be the top geopolitical issue to be tackled jointly by Brussels and Washington.
“The EU and the US should capitalise on their experience and expertise through a new green tech alliance to create lead markets and cooperate on clean and circular technologies, such as renewables, grid-scale energy storage, batteries, clean hydrogen, and carbon capture, storage and utilisation,” said the EU document published on Wednesday.
“Together with our partners, the EU and the US can lead the world towards a green, circular, competitive and inclusive economy.”
According to Bloomberg data, at the end of 2019 Chinese panel factories had an annual capacity of 193 gigawatts, 60 per cent more than was installed worldwide in that year. Planned expansions could increase that total by more than half.
The EU proposal coincided with a new report by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) think tank which asks Brussels to change its narrative on climate change cooperation with China.
“The broad notion of ‘partnership’ no longer reflects the true complexity of the EU’s interactions with China in tackling the most important global challenge,” according to the report, which the ECFR jointly published with E3G, a climate change think tank.
“Instead, as climate action becomes more material to economic interests, Europe and China will both compete and cooperate with each other, against the backdrop of an overarching systemic rivalry,” it added.
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It recommends that the EU should set “clear red lines” for any cooperation on sustainable finance and exclude coal-related investments from any definition of “sustainable finance”.
Reinhard Bütikofer, who chairs the European Parliament’s China committee, said European leaders should be “realistic” and “ambitious” while shaping climate-oriented relations with China.
“China has frequently been dubbed an indispensable partner for the EU in climate change policy. But how much of a partner is China, really?” Bütikofer said. “The answer is: it’s complicated.”
According to the EU document, the bloc acknowledges that there are differences with the United States on how to deal with China, a country that came at the top of the list of geopolitical issues that the EU hopes to work with Washington on.
“As open democratic societies and market economies, the EU and the US agree on the strategic challenge presented by China’s growing international assertiveness, even if we do not always agree on the best way to address this,” it said.
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“Increased EU focus on the challenges and opportunities in the Indo-Pacific region will help deepen cooperation with like-minded partners in the region. Working closely with the US to align our strategic objectives and support democratic progress in Asia will be essential.”
