With COP26 set to kick off at the end of the week and President Xi's attendance looking unlikely, we were joined by three experts for a panel discussion on China’s efforts to combat climate change - and what a successful COP 26 would look like.

All three panellists have worked closely with China on climate change. Former Climate Change Secretary Amber Rudd led the UK’s delegation at COP15 in Paris, Isabel Hilton founded the influential ChinaDialogue, and Alex Wang is a Professor at UCLA and Faculty Co-Director of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, having previously worked for an American NGO in China.

The discussion touched on China’s long-term attitude to climate change, the effectiveness of Western pressure and the false dichotomy between cooperation and competition. The three panellists also discussed how China and the West’s standing with lower-income countries could shape the outcome of the Glasgow summit.

Read the full transcript here on our website.

Further reading: 

• Analysis: Where does China stand on climate change ahead of COP26? by Chris Cash, Researcher at China Research Group


• The Chinese government's new '1+N' policy framework for achieving carbon neutrality (EN).