Does China’s unique party-state capitalist political economy model hold the key for global climate transition? Can the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) translate its success in expanding green energy technology to the destruction of the fossil fuel industry? What does China’s idea of ecological civilisation offer that Western notions of green capitalism do not? How should activists in the West respond to the rise of China amid the climate crisis?

Chris Saltmarsh is a postgraduate researcher at University of Sheffield and the executive producer of SPERI Presents… He joins Dr Remi Edwards to discuss his paper ‘The Chinese Road to Decarbonisation: Chinese Party-State Capitalism in the Political Economy of Fossil Energy Phase-Out’ recently published in Review of International Political Economy. They discuss the relationship between green energy build-out and fossil energy phase-out; the basis of China’s development in socialist revolution; whether China’s unique political economy affords it greater potentiality to phase-out fossil fuels; and both the practical challenges and theoretical implications of achieving such an undertaking.

Publications discussed also include Cheek’s Xi Jinping’s Counter-Reformation: The Reassertion of Ideological Governance in Historical Perspective, Ban and Hasselbalch’s Green economic planning for rapid decarbonisation, Gabor and Braun’s Green macrofinancial regimes, Huber’s Theorizing the subterranean mode of production, and Malm’s Fossil Capital.

'New Thinking in Political Economy' is a monthly podcast showcasing cutting-edge political economy research that helps us to understand the world around us.

This episode is produced by the SPERI Presents… committee, including Remi Edwards, Chris Saltmarsh, Frank Maracchione, Emma Mahoney, Dillon Wamsley and Andrew Hindmoor. This episode was edited by Remi Edwards and Chris Saltmarsh. Music and audio by Andy_Gambino. Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.