California and Chinese Province Form Climate Change Partnership

Delegates from both California and China's Hainan Province come together to forge an international climate agreement outlining shared goals and principles related to reducing carbon emissions, in Sacramento, Calif., on Aug. 3, 2023. Courtesy of Office of Governor Gavin Newsom

Delegates from both California and a provincial government in China came together on Aug. 3 to forge an international agreement outlining shared goals and principles related to reducing carbon emissions, with the document (pdf) signed at an official ceremony.

The agreement, a memorandum of understanding, defines five areas of cooperation between the Golden State and Hainan—China’s southernmost province, and the smallest in terms of geographical size. These areas include reducing air pollution, improving clean energy technologies, advancing zero-emission vehicle production, and accelerating the development and implementation of climate change and carbon neutrality plans.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom expressed gratitude for the partnership and celebrated the occasion while reiterating that addressing climate change is a top priority of his administration.

“We’re an ocean apart but share the same goals—leaving this planet better off for our kids and grandkids,” Mr. Newsom said in a statement announcing the agreement. “Working together with global partners like the province of Hainan, we stand a chance to address the existential crisis of climate change by cutting pollution and transitioning to clean energy.”

The delegation from China thanked the governor and declared its intention to focus on climate-related strategies.

“We’re glad to partner with California as we both take meaningful steps to fight the global climate crisis,” Hainan’s vice governor, Chen Huaiyu, said in the joint statement. “We share the desire to raise the bar for climate solutions like cleaning our air, advancing zero emission vehicles, and embracing clean energy.”

Hainan is home to 10 coal-fired power plants and a nuclear power plant that’s currently undergoing phase two of an expansion, but no specific details were provided in the agreement as to these facilities.

This aerial photo shows an empty beach as the area is closed off because of an outbreak of COVID-19 in Sanya, Hainan Province, China, on Aug. 6, 2022. CNS/AFP via Getty Images

Following the formal signing ceremony, the group met for a roundtable discussion in which members committed to prioritizing “climate action, air quality, clean transportation, clean energy, ocean protection and nature-based climate solutions,” according to the statement.

There are more than 3,000 coal-fired power plants in China, and Hainan had 10 of them as of January, according to online data analysis firm Statista.

As the world’s largest source of carbon emissions, China saw its emissions increase by 4 percent in the first quarter of 2023 compared with a year prior to reach a record-high first-quarter level, according to a report published in May by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, a nonprofit think tank founded in Finland.

China’s emission level is expected to reach a historic high in 2023, surpassing the previous peak in 2021, according to the report.

California signed similar memorandums of understanding with Huang Runqiu, China’s minister of ecology and environment, in April 2022 and with the Netherlands in September 2022.

The state also signed memorandums of cooperation—more comprehensive than memorandums of understanding—with Canada, New Zealand, and Japan in 2022.

Regional commitments exist between California and Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia.