National Institute for Global Strategy, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences: Promoting Global Green Development through Open Cooperation
Green development, which conforms to nature and promotes the harmonious coexistence of man and Nature [1], has become a global consensus. Against a backdrop of intensifying climate change and sluggish economic growth, countries have expanded opening up and cooperation to advance a green and low-carbon transition, providing broad space and accessible channels and resources for green development. Promoting green development through opening up and cooperation has become an important path for an increasing number of countries to achieve carbon neutrality targets. Despite the uncertain impacts brought by intensifying geopolitical conflicts and the rise of trade protectionism, the prospects for green development and open cooperation remain optimistic. The restructuring of rules in the fields of global trade, investment, and finance is accelerating, while green trade and investment show strong momentum, and emerging market economies have become an important force in driving global green development and open cooperation.
The Gradual Formation of Global Consensus and Action
Since the 1960s, environmental issues have gradually moved from the periphery to the mainstream agenda, intersecting with economic and trade issues. The publication of Silent Spring in 1962 sparked public concern over environmental problems. In 1972, the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment adopted the Declaration on the Human Environment, and countries around the world began to jointly study and solve environmental problems. In 1987, the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) first expounded the concept of "sustainable development" in its report Our Common Future. In 1992, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) integrated economic development with environmental protection and adopted a series of documents such as Agenda 21 and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), accelerating the construction of the institutional framework for sustainable development. After the establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO), green issues were incorporated into the scope of international trade discussions.
From the beginning of the 21st century to 2015, "green" became a vital topic in global opening up and cooperation. Green trade and investment in clean energy grew rapidly, and emerging market economies became vital driving forces in global climate negotiations. In 2005, the Kyoto Protocol entered into force. While pushing industrialized nations to limit and reduce emissions, it promoted deeper cooperation on emission reduction between developed and developing countries through the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). Following the outbreak of the 2008 international financial crisis, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) launched the Green Economy Initiative to encourage countries to prioritize green investment in their economic stimulus plans; the green economy gradually became a developmental priority. After the 2009 Copenhagen Summit, global climate governance moved toward institutionalization. In 2015, the Paris Agreement was reached, laying the foundation for promoting global green development through opening up and cooperation.
From 2015 to the present, the institutional framework for global green development has Been gradually perfected, the division of labor in green technology and industrial chains has further deepened, and the establishment of global carbon markets and green financial systems has driven international governance toward greater synergy. To implement the Paris Agreement, all contracting parties proposed Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), making green transition a key path to enhancing industrial competitiveness and global discourse power [2]. Green investment has grown rapidly, with significant innovative achievements in fields such as photovoltaics (PV), wind energy, and electric vehicles (EVs), making technology transfer a core component of international cooperation. Green and low-carbon factors are driving the restructuring of rules in global trade, investment, and finance, showing a trend toward systematization, internationalization, and synergy in green development and open cooperation.
First, the green and low-carbon policy system is increasingly becoming perfected. Countries are driving the green transition of economic and social development by setting carbon neutrality goals, developing carbon markets, improving green financial standard systems, and implementing industrial support policies. For example, they utilize bilateral and multilateral cooperation mechanisms to promote more inclusive climate action, and adopt a series of fiscal, monetary, and financial policies to incentivize green investment and guide capital toward sustainable development fields. Although the intensity and focus of policy implementation vary according to national conditions, all emphasize the role of public funds and markets to accelerate the green transition.
Second, the scale of green investment continues to expand. Driven by global responses to climate change, government policy support, and technological innovation, green industries have demonstrated strong growth momentum and enormous market potential. Taking renewable energy as an example, the scale of global renewable energy investment reached $807 billion in 2024, of which solar PV investment exceeded $554 billion, a record high. The International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts that global energy investment will increase to $3.3 trillion by 2025.
Third, green trade has become a new growth point. Against the backdrop of a slowdown in global trade growth, green trade has maintained growth against the trend, with the "New Three" [3] products—represented by new energy vehicles (NEVs), lithium batteries, and photovoltaic products—becoming new growth poles. In 2024, world export trade volumes for solar and wind energy products were $443 billion and $245 billion respectively; global EV sales reached 17 million units, with a market share exceeding 20%. The green trade import and export volume of the EU, the US, and China accounts for approximately 40% of the global total, while the export share of green commodities from emerging market countries has grown steadily, accelerating the green and low-carbon transition through opening up and cooperation.
Countries Exploring Differentiated Paths of Practice
The green transition has become a major engine for global sustainable development, and countries are achieving win-win outcomes through opening up and cooperation. Based on their resource endowments and development needs, regions such as the EU, Asia-Pacific, Africa, and Latin America have explored and formed multi-level, differentiated paths of practice. Through policy synergy, market linkage, and joint project construction, they promote the popularization of green technologies, the substitution of clean energy, and the construction of sustainable supply chains, injecting lasting momentum into global green development.
In 2024, 56% of the EU's energy consumption came from imports, and coal, oil, and natural gas accounted for 66% of its energy consumption. Its energy transition faces multiple challenges, including high costs and geopolitical risks. Taking full advantage of its edge in low-carbon technology R&D and climate governance rule-making, the EU uses "top-level design + market-based mechanisms + cross-border cooperation + standard output" as its core to drive member states and partners to accelerate their green transitions. Through the European Green Deal and the "Fit for 55" plan, the EU has incorporated sectors such as energy and industry into its Emissions Trading System (ETS). By 2024, greenhouse gas emissions from high-carbon industries covered by this system have fallen by approximately 50% compared to 2005 levels. Renewable energy accounts for 25% of the EU's total final energy consumption, with renewable electricity generation reaching 47%, and green investment grew by approximately 20% in real terms compared to 2022.
The Asia-Pacific region is rich in renewable energy and has a high concentration of manufacturing; it focuses on industrial upgrading, financial synergy, and trade expansion to carry out green cooperation. Singapore is actively building a global carbon trading hub and carrying out carbon credit cooperation with more than 10 countries. ASEAN launched a sustainable finance taxonomy to provide financial support for the green transition of high-carbon industries. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has increased investment in green infrastructure to support the green transition of its members. By 2024, it has invested in more than 51,000 kilometers of transport infrastructure, added 21.3 million kilowatts of renewable energy capacity, and supported energy projects that can reduce nearly 30 million tons of CO2 equivalent emissions annually.
Africa possesses abundant renewable energy resources such as solar and wind, but its energy access rate is not high. Countries there drive the green energy transition through multilateral financing and alliance collaboration. The African Union has issued planning documents such as the "Africa Green Energy Initiative" and the "Africa Energy Partnership Programme," and established the Africa Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Fund to encourage regional countries to accelerate the utilization of renewable resources. According to IEA estimates, clean energy investment in Africa reached nearly $40 billion in 2024. Taking the green hydrogen industry as an example, in 2024 Morocco approved investment plans for several green hydrogen projects with a total investment scale of 319 billion dirhams (approximately 244 billion RMB); South Africa released its National Hydrogen Society Roadmap, and Egypt and other countries have also formulated their own national hydrogen development strategies. Green hydrogen cooperation agreements between the EU and countries like Morocco, Egypt, and Namibia have gradually been implemented.
Latin American countries have reached a consensus on the green transition, implementing green development plans in combination with their resource endowments and promoting efficient resource utilization through international cooperation to gradually move away from dependence on traditional development paths. Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile—which possess enormous lithium reserves and production potential—are known as South America's "Lithium Triangle" and are strengthening cooperation based on their resource advantages to drive the energy transition. Chile is vigorously promoting the integration of its lithium industry; in 2024, its lithium exports increased by 26% year-on-year, and its refined lithium exports accounted for 42% of the global total. Argentina has attracted foreign investment to build factories through policy incentives, using direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology to increase lithium recovery rates to over 90%. According to the Argentine Chamber of Mining Enterprises (CAEM), the country's lithium carbonate production is expected to reach 131,800 tons in 2025, a 77% increase over 2024.
Contributing Chinese Wisdom to Sustainable Development
As the world's largest developing country, China persists in following a path of green and low-carbon development, continuously promotes high-level opening up, and actively participates in global green governance, advancing global sustainable development through pragmatic actions.
The Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee proposed the New Development Philosophy of innovation, coordination, greenness, openness, and sharing. It aims to resolve the problem of harmony between man and Nature through green development, and the problem of internal and external development linkage through open development. Documents such as the Opinions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Comprehensively Advancing the Construction of a Beautiful China and the Opinions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Accelerating the Comprehensive Green Transition of Economic and Social Development have been issued, providing institutional guarantees for the green transition and the deepening of international cooperation. In fields such as green rules, green technology, and green standards, China has increased its participation in international standardization, forming a development system that covers policy systems, industrial support, and international cooperation.
At the level of top-level design, China leverages the institutional advantage of "concentrating resources to accomplish major tasks" [4] to construct a comprehensive and multi-layered policy system. Policy dividends continue to be released, ranging from the Provisional Regulations on the Management of Carbon Emission Trading, which established the market trading system for carbon emission rights, to the Opinions on Leveraging the Role of Green Finance to Serve the Construction of a Beautiful China, which strengthens financial support, and the Implementation Opinions on Expanding Green Trade, which clarifies the path for trade optimization and upgrading. Meanwhile, through the G20 Sustainable Finance Working Group and the Green Investment Principles for the Belt and Road, China actively participates in the formulation of global green rules, promoting the formation of a more inclusive and fair green governance system.
In terms of industrial support, China relies on its advantage of a super-large scale market and a complete industrial system to cultivate green industrial clusters with international competitiveness. China's wind power, PV, and NEV industries have formed complete industrial chains from R&D and equipment manufacturing to market application, occupying important positions in the global market. Through technological iteration and scale effects, China has promoted significant cost reductions in green energy and green transport, providing support for the green transition of developing countries. Relying on the virtuous cycle of "technological innovation—industrial upgrading—open sharing," China provides strong support for global green industrial cooperation while ensuring the security of its own industrial and supply chains.
Regarding the layout of regional opening up, China insists on acting in light of local conditions and advancing by category, forming a multi-level and wide-ranging patterns of openness. Relying on open platforms such as Pilot Free Trade Zones and Comprehensive Bonded Zones, the eastern coastal areas take the lead in piloting green finance, carbon footprint management, and green service trade to create new highlands for opening up with international competitiveness. The central and western regions leverage their resource endowment advantages to deepen international cooperation in areas such as new energy development, accelerating the gradient transfer of green industries. China actively advances the construction of the Green "Belt and Road," continuously deepening cooperation in areas like green infrastructure, green energy, and green transport. For instance, the "African Light Belt" project helps impoverished families solve electricity problems, the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) in Malaysia has greatly improved connectivity along its route, and Chinese enterprises are helping Morocco accelerate the development of its EV industry. As the green cooperation network is integrated more quickly, the fruits of green development are benefiting more countries and people.
Currently, the global green transition still faces multiple challenges such as a technology gap, differences in rules, and imbalanced development. China is accelerating its pace of green and low-carbon transition, promoting the sharing of green products, technologies, and services, and actively participating in the formulation of global green governance rules. It works hand-in-hand with all countries to build a green trade system, a green investment environment, and a green development cooperation platform. China is deepening South-South cooperation in the field of addressing climate change, adopting a "trinity" model of green concepts, green technology, and clean energy to support developing countries in improving their capacity to handle climate change. As of the end of October 2025, China has signed 55 Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) on South-South climate change cooperation with 43 developing countries and has implemented over 300 capacity-building projects.
Comprehensive Analysis and Judgement of New Opportunities and Challenges
Driven by factors such as policy, technology, and the market, green development has become an important trend in economic globalization. The "green content" of the world economy is constantly increasing, and opportunities for open cooperation are continually emerging.
The urgency of the global response to climate change, the introduction of carbon neutrality timetables by various nations, the rise in consumer environmental awareness, and the rapid development of green technologies are continuously stimulating demand for green products. The "new three" [5] have become new growth points for global trade. In the process of green transformation, improving resource utilization efficiency has garnered significant attention; recycled materials and products meeting circular economy standards are encountering larger market spaces. Concurrently, green trade is extending into fields such as green technical services, carbon emission rights trading services, and environmental consulting services. Carbon pricing and mandatory information disclosure are forcing enterprises to seek decarbonization and transparency throughout the entire process, from raw material procurement and manufacturing to logistics and transportation.
The low-carbon transition involves sectors such as energy, industry, transportation, and construction, bringing about growth in green investment demand. As renewable energy technologies continue to innovate and achieve large-scale application, the investment attractiveness of green transportation has significantly increased, covering multiple sub-sectors including electric vehicles, charging piles, batteries, and smart transportation. Investment demand in the circular economy as well as carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) also continues to grow. As green development deeply integrates with digital technology, new models such as the sharing economy and smart agriculture are developing rapidly, which will generate even more investment demand. Green elements are being deeply integrated into investment, trade, and financial regulatory systems, and are increasingly present in bilateral and multilateral trade and investment agreements. International high-standard economic and trade rules, such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), have established environment chapters. Singapore and Australia signed the world’s first Green Economy Agreement to support the two nations' transition to zero-carbon emissions. The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) released two sustainability disclosure standards, requiring enterprises to strengthen the disclosure of climate and other sustainability-related information, which have been adopted by multiple countries and regions.
However, it must also be seen that as the international situation undergoes profound evolution, international competition in the green and low-carbon fields is intensifying. Factors such as the rise of trade protectionism, the frequent occurrence of geopolitical conflicts, and fluctuations in the climate policies of major economies have filled the world economy with uncertainty. In recent years, intense competition and trade frictions have persisted behind the prosperity of green trade. To support their domestic green industries, some countries have set up green barriers through massive subsidies and trade restrictions, exerting a profound impact on the global trade pattern. Under conditions of trade tension, green investment screening is becoming increasingly stringent, particularly screenings based on national security and environmental protection grounds, which to a certain extent hinder market access for developing economies. According to data from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), from 2020 to 2022, the average tariff on solar and wind energy components in Africa was 7.1%; after accounting for non-tariff measures, the total trade cost rose to 7.6%, far higher than the sub-2% level in developed economies. If trade protectionism persists, the cross-border dissemination of green technology will inevitably be obstructed, thereby stalling the pace of global green and low-carbon development.
Consolidating Synergy to Advance Global Green Transformation
China has made carbon peaking and carbon neutrality [6] a national strategy and has constructed the world's most systematic and complete carbon emission reduction policy system, becoming one of the countries with the fastest decline in energy consumption intensity in the world. Climate change is a global challenge that requires the joint efforts of all parties. As an important leader in green transformation, our country has successfully explored a path that coordinates economic growth with green development.
The proposals for the 15th Five-Year Plan [7] have made important deployments for building a Beautiful China [8]. The recently convened Central Economic Work Conference identified "upholding the lead of 'Double Carbon' and promoting comprehensive green transformation" as one of the key tasks. Significant progress has been made in the cause of global green development, and international cooperation in green development is encountering more opportunities. Our country will continue to apply effort and persist over the long term in promoting comprehensive green transformation, making greater contributions to addressing climate change.
Advancing global climate governance and green cooperation. We firmly support the international system with the United Nations at its core, uphold multilateralism, and advance global climate governance. We deeply participate in ecological governance mechanisms under the UN framework and maintain the authority of international conventions such as the Paris Agreement and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. We firmly support the Paris Agreement and its temperature control targets and take active action to inject more stability and certainty into the global climate process. Green cooperation has become a key path for Global South countries to promote industrial structural transformation, upgrading, and sustainable development. Various nations have demonstrated a strong willingness to cooperate and enormous potential in jointly promoting green and low-carbon transformation. We must rely on South-South cooperation mechanisms and multilateral platforms such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to deepen policy dialogue, technical cooperation, and capacity building. We should share best practices in implementing green development strategies and improving laws, regulations, and standard systems, work together to address climate change risks, and help Global South countries enhance their climate resilience and green development levels to jointly achieve higher-quality and more sustainable development.
Promoting the formulation of international green trade rules and standards. Open markets and clear rules are important guarantees for promoting trade liberalization and facilitation. We must strengthen the exchange of agendas regarding green and low-carbon development and promote the establishment of a more equitable and sustainable international trade rule system to create a favorable environment for the development of global green trade. We should construct a collaborative, fair, and innovative global governance framework, strengthen green technology exchange and cooperation, and promote the restructuring of global industrial and supply chains. In terms of green trade standard-setting and certification, we should strengthen the empowerment of green product standards between countries and promote the mutual recognition, interconnectivity, and effective alignment of green standards and trade rules. We must promote the integration of technical standards for green and low-carbon industries with international standards, improve the green product standard system, reduce the costs of green certification for cross-border transactions, and promote the better integration of green products, technologies, and services into the global market.
Deepening international collaborative innovation in green technology. Technological innovation is an important driving force for achieving green and low-carbon development. China is increasingly becoming a provider of green technology. We must adopt an open and inclusive stance, coordinately establish more diversified green innovation platforms, and stimulate the development potential of various scientific and technological innovation subjects through exchange and cooperation. We should innovate international scientific and technological cooperation models and promote the leap of green innovation platforms from "building frameworks" to "strengthening functions." We must accelerate the digital transformation of innovation platforms, optimize the connection methods between innovation subjects, construct green technology cooperation networks, and create an open and collaborative green innovation ecosystem.
Innovating industrial cooperation models and green transformation paths. We should give full play to the bridge and bond role of the China–Shanghai Cooperation Organization Green Industry Cooperation Platform. By deepening communication and exchange, carrying out joint research projects, promoting pragmatic project cooperation, strengthening information and resource sharing, and organizing talent exchange and training, we can share the fruits of green development with developing countries and promote integrated industrial development. We must establish a coordinated and demand-oriented intergovernmental management framework and working mechanism for green South-South cooperation to promote the joint construction of cross-border green industrial parks, the establishment of green finance platforms, and the layout of local industrial chains, supporting the green and low-carbon transformation of developing countries. We should fully utilize digital technology to empower green trade, bridge the digital divide, reduce the transaction costs of green technologies and products, and support relevant enterprises in developing countries to participate in the global market.
(Authored by: Zhuang Guiyang, Tian Huifang, Lin Shan) Source: Guangming Daily (January 4, 2026) Web Editor: Huihui