Matthew Petti
Climate Change, World
As both China and America seek to lead the world’s technological transition away from carbon-intensive sources of energy, they may be entering a new era of “coop-etition.”
U.S.-China Competition Meets the Climate Challenge
The future of U.S.-China economic relations in the age of climate change won’t be marked by competition or cooperation. Instead, the two powers could enter a period of what Professor David Hart of the Schar Center at George Mason University calls “coop-etition,” as both sides seek to lead the world’s technological transition away from carbon-intensive sources of energy.
Jacob Heilbrunn, editor of the National Interest, moderated a Wednesday luncheon discussion titled Energy and U.S.-China Competition at the Center for the National Interest. He was joined by Professor Hart, also a Senior Fellow at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation and formerly assistant director for innovation policy in the Obama administration at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Paul J. Saunders, President of the Energy Innovation Reform Project, a senior fellow at the Center for the National Interest, and author of an essay in the July/August issue of the National Interest called “Energizing America.”
Hart and Saunders broadly agreed that technological innovation will be a key piece of U.S. policy in response to climate change, just as it has been a focus of Chinese policy. And both agreed that this innovation has been taking place in an environment of both cooperation and competition between the United States and China. However, in the future, Saunders believes that the relationship will tilt towards competition over cooperation.
“We’re in an era of competition between great powers, particularly the United States and China,” he stated. “It may not have been necessary for it to become quite as competitive as it is quite as quickly as it did, but from my perspective that is water under the bridge.”
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