Chinese policymakers face difficult choices in setting climate goals. Some appear technical but have significant implications for environmental outcomes.
Such technologies appeal to those who repudiate the need for transformative societal change to limit global warming and could become a dangerous distraction, especially as it gains traction as a delay tactic for the fossil fuel industry.
China’s decision to ramp up spending could accelerate a shift and help achieve long-term climate goals by bringing forward the peak in fossil-fuel use and lowering greenhouse gas emissions.