Time to align: How Europe can compete with China on clean tech in Africa
The EU must take concrete steps to support African ambitions to move exporting or processing raw materials and become a maker of clean technologies
Experts & Staff
Byford Tsang
Senior Policy Fellow, Asia Programme
Areas of expertise
EU-China relations, China’s energy and climate policies, Chinese foreign policy, climate diplomacy
Languages
English, Cantonese, Mandarin
Biography
Byford Tsang is a senior policy fellow with the Asia programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations.
Byford previous led the China programme at the international climate think tank E3G, where he advised policymakers on EU-China negotiations on climate and energy issues. He regularly provides comment and analysis on China’s climate and energy policies in a variety of media outlets including the Financial Times, the New York Times, the Guardian, the Wall Street Journal, South China Morning Post, Foreign Policy, and Foreign Affairs.
Before joining E3G, Byford led the supply chain sustainability practice at S&P Global, working with corporate and investor clients to assess and report climate risks. Prior to that, he was with the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation where he managed a portfolio of philanthropic grants in China and Brazil, with a focus on sustainable urbanisation, air quality, and forest restoration. Byford has also spent three years in Hong Kong as an environmental consultant, working with actors in the manufacturing sector in mainland China and south-east Asia to develop corporate sustainability policies.
Byford holds an MSc in environment and development from the London School of Economics. Byford also has a BSocSc in geography and resource management from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Don’t look down: How Europeans can escape China’s clean-tech gravity
China’s manufacturing surge and trade tactics are dampening Europe’s clean-tech goals. Europeans need to forge coalitions across wary member states to secure their energy independence
9
Dec
Asia
Implications for the UK of Europe’s approach to China and economic security
China now poses a deindustrialisation-level shock to Europe’s economic future. The external impact of Chinese overcapacity, involution, and Beijing’s technological leadership and supply-chain dominance in critical future technologies is presenting an existential threat to Europe’s industrial base. The EU is weighing new measures in response, including stricter investment screening, European preference in procurement, a new…
Green competitiveness: Why Europe should rethink targets to outpace China
European carmakers are falling behind Chinese makers of electric vehicles. Yet watered-down climate targets will not help European cars compete with China; a different approach is needed
Not so fast: What China’s new climate target means for Europe and the planet
Europeans should understand that China views climate policy not as ideology—but as a lever of industrial power
Last gasp: Securing Europe’s wind industry from dependence on China
Europe’s pioneering wind turbine manufacturers are grappling with Chinese competition at home and abroad—but it is not too late to save them
Caught in the crossfire: Why the EU and India must collaborate on clean technology
The EU’s and India’s ambitions to become more self reliant on clean technology is facing significant geoeconomic hurdles. To overcome them, they need to work together
Britain’s risky re-engagement: Why its China policy could strain the EU-UK reset
British chancellor Rachel Reeves’s visit to Beijing over the weekend shows the Labour government’s willingness to re-engage with China. But this strategy could strain Britain’s relationship with the EU
Carbon diplomacy: How Europe can steer China’s climate path
Beijing is poised to make a pivotal decision that will shape global climate action for decades to come and directly affect European climate safety
Climate superpowers: How the EU and China can compete and cooperate for a green future
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
Publications
Don’t look down: How Europeans can escape China’s clean-tech gravity
China’s manufacturing surge and trade tactics are dampening Europe’s clean-tech goals. Europeans need to forge coalitions across wary member states to secure their energy independence
Last gasp: Securing Europe’s wind industry from dependence on China
Europe’s pioneering wind turbine manufacturers are grappling with Chinese competition at home and abroad—but it is not too late to save them
Climate superpowers: How the EU and China can compete and cooperate for a green future
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
Articles
Time to align: How Europe can compete with China on clean tech in Africa
The EU must take concrete steps to support African ambitions to move exporting or processing raw materials and become a maker of clean technologies
Green competitiveness: Why Europe should rethink targets to outpace China
European carmakers are falling behind Chinese makers of electric vehicles. Yet watered-down climate targets will not help European cars compete with China; a different approach is needed
Not so fast: What China’s new climate target means for Europe and the planet
Europeans should understand that China views climate policy not as ideology—but as a lever of industrial power
Caught in the crossfire: Why the EU and India must collaborate on clean technology
The EU’s and India’s ambitions to become more self reliant on clean technology is facing significant geoeconomic hurdles. To overcome them, they need to work together
Britain’s risky re-engagement: Why its China policy could strain the EU-UK reset
British chancellor Rachel Reeves’s visit to Beijing over the weekend shows the Labour government’s willingness to re-engage with China. But this strategy could strain Britain’s relationship with the EU
Carbon diplomacy: How Europe can steer China’s climate path
Beijing is poised to make a pivotal decision that will shape global climate action for decades to come and directly affect European climate safety
Events
9
Dec
Asia
Implications for the UK of Europe’s approach to China and economic security
China now poses a deindustrialisation-level shock to Europe’s economic future. The external impact of Chinese overcapacity, involution, and Beijing’s technological leadership and supply-chain dominance in critical future technologies is presenting an existential threat to Europe’s industrial base. The EU is weighing new measures in response, including stricter investment screening, European preference in procurement, a new…
In the media
Byford Tsang on Chinese dominance of rare earth supply chains
Byford Tsang on the EU-China summit
Byford Tsang on the EU China Summit
It’s expanding more and more into the competition and the rivalry space
Byford Tsang on EU-China cooperation on climate issues
Byford Tsang on Chinese supply chain dominance