Has COVID’s Hit on China’s Economy Changed its Climate Trajectory?

On September 22, 2020, Chinese President Xi Jinping made a historic pledge to the United Nations General Assembly: by 2060, China, the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide, would achieve carbon neutrality. The goal itself was ambitious , but equally remarkable was the timing of the speech, made with the world still reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic, President Xi tied his pledge to the crisis, imploring the international community to “achieve a green recovery of the world economy in the post-COVID era”. As governments worldwide have deployed stimulus and other measures to bolster economic activity, this “green recovery” aspiration would be put to the test. The EU , for example, declared that the “Post-COVID-19 Europe will be greener, more digital, more resilient”, while the United States was largely agnostic to climate change concerns in its early stimulus efforts. Would China’s efforts be brown, green, or both?

Using geospatial imagery and analysis, and with the coronavirus as a backdrop, this two-part series explored China’s progress towards its own carbon goals. First, the Capstone team examined how the construction of coal-fired power plants has continued across the country during the COVID-19 pandemic, even as the coronavirus pandemic slowed down most construction activities. Next, the team analyzed China’s progress in its afforestation efforts. The greenest of “green” measures, China’s ambitious tree-planting programs were originally designed for anti-desertification and anti-soil-erosion purposes. Today, the technique has been tied to climate goals due to the perceived “carbon sink” benefits of forests.