"China’s COP30 leadership goes beyond pledges with its product showcase"
"On the opening day at COP30, the United Nations’ annual climate summit, the scene was emblematic of a shifting order. With the United States absent, all eyes were on China.
A crowd had gathered around a glossy Chinese Pavilion, its two upright flags flanking a stage and podium with ceremonial precision. Behind the podium stood a member of China’s delegation, addressing an audience larger than any other at the conference while ticking through images on a screen: Rural streets glowed beneath solar lamps; a smiling driver posed beside a gleaming electric bus; a slide promoted the Vientiane Saysettha Low-Carbon Demonstration Zone, a China-Laos initiative bringing electric transportation and solar power to one of Southeast Asia’s poorest capitals.
In 2024, China accounted for about 40 percent of global electric vehicle exports, and it still controls the overwhelming bulk of solar manufacturing steps. Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse told Sierra, “As we [arrived to COP30], in the wee hours of this morning, I drove by a number of Chinese EV manufacturers and dealerships. They are here, they are popular, they're inexpensive.”
Whitehouse chose to attend COP30 in response to the Trump administration’s refusal to send a delegation. “There will be lasting economic damage to the United States from failing to keep up with China in the race to succeed in the clean energy future that is inevitable,” he said. Still, Whitehouse asserted, the Trump administration does not represent the American public on climate issues. “Who they represent is the fossil fuel industry and most importantly, the big fossil fuel donors who have contributed hundreds of millions of dollars to Trump’s political campaign. You are seeing [that influence] in action.”"
Text and photographs by Nour Ghantous for Sierra November 17, 2025.
SEE ALSO:
"As U.S. and E.U. Retreat on Climate, China Takes the Leadership Role" (Yale Environment 360)
https://e360.yale.edu/features/china-climate-diplomacy
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