Sep 22, 2026 · 43 min · 9 segments
China is a rising power and is already shaping the global order, and with it, Britain’s operating environment. To unpack China’s ascent and what it means for British foreign policy, Zoe Swanwick…
Isabel HiltonGuest
Zoe SwanwickHost
Where do you think China stands now as a climate leader, especially now that it seems to be increasing its coal production?
In other words, a country that had not contributed enormously to climate change and had the right to some remaining space.
Now, China played that card as long as it could, and this period coincided with this enormous industrial revolution.
So, China went from being a relatively insignificant emitter to the world's biggest, and that's a serious problem.
But at the same time, China saw climate change as an industrial opportunity and invested when it was obliged to move up the value chain.
And because that's what happens with industrial revolutions, you start off doing the cheap, low added value stuff, you know, and then you have to move up or you stagnate.
So it In the course of doing that, it's brought the price down of those technologies to the point where price is no longer a barrier in most geographies.
It's cheaper to go renewable than it is to build a coal or a gas-fired power station.
Where do you think China stands now as a climate leader, especially now that it seems to be increasing its coal production?
In other words, a country that had not contributed enormously to climate change and had the right to some remaining space.
Now, China played that card as long as it could, and this period coincided with this enormous industrial revolution.
So, China went from being a relatively insignificant emitter to the world's biggest, and that's a serious problem.
But at the same time, China saw climate change as an industrial opportunity and invested when it was obliged to move up the value chain.
And because that's what happens with industrial revolutions, you start off doing the cheap, low added value stuff, you know, and then you have to move up or you stagnate.
So it In the course of doing that, it's brought the price down of those technologies to the point where price is no longer a barrier in most geographies.
It's cheaper to go renewable than it is to build a coal or a gas-fired power station.
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