Who Can Say Where the (Belt &) Road Goes? EU-China Competition in Renewables vs Cooperation in Climate Change Mitigation

This article seeks to analyze patterns of cooperation and competition between the EU and China in the process of global energy transition, climate change mitigation and adaptation following the US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement. The indirect and direct effects of the Trump’s energy policy on the EU-China relations in the last two years will be assessed by incorporating state and non-state actors’ perspectives. In particular, the paper will discuss how the American retreat created political and business opportunities for the EU and China as well as their industries to become global sustainability leaders and competitors in clean energy innovations by further expanding their markets of solar and wind energy technologies. By analyzing potential for unparalleled electricity grid connectivity across continents in the framework of the Belt & Road Initiative, the paper will discuss the EU-China cooperation in meeting the objectives of the Paris Agreement and developing trade in innovative technologies of renewables. It will be argued that a new form of energy solidarity is emerging as a result of primarily non-state cooperation between the EU and China. The paper will also demonstrate how their shared sense of obligation to reduce the global carbon footprint goes hand in hand with the competitive aspirations of the EU and China in dominating the world’s markets of renewables.