Podcast Summary

Podcast: New Books Network
Episode: Weila Gong, "Implementing a Low-Carbon Future: Climate Leadership in Chinese Cities" (Oxford UP, 2025)
Date: December 24, 2025
Host(s): Jessica DeCarlo ("A"), Seth Schindler ("C")
Guest: Weila Gong ("B"), Visiting Scholar at UC Davis and Non-Resident Fellow at UC San Diego

Episode Overview

This episode delves into Weila Gong's forthcoming book Implementing a Low-Carbon Future: Climate Leadership in Chinese Cities, exploring how Chinese cities and their mid-level bureaucrats drive climate action within the context of China’s evolving role as a global climate leader. The discussion unpacks the mechanisms, challenges, and innovations within subnational governance that enable or impede the translation of policy experiments into concrete climate action, and considers the impact of international collaboration and geopolitics on China’s climate trajectory.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Genesis of the Book and Focus on Mid-Level Bureaucrats

• Emergence of Subnational Governance (04:35–07:34)
  • Weila Gong was intrigued by the increasingly proactive role of Chinese local governments in climate action since 2010.
  • Traditionally seen as barriers to environmental protection (due to local economic priorities), these regions have begun to support climate initiatives.
  • Gong’s fieldwork challenged the assumption of China’s purely top-down governance, revealing heterogeneity: “It’s not like the case as we assume about the top-down approach. It’s actually a lot of those engagement have been very various across regions.” (B, 06:13)
  • Critical insight: It's often the mid-level bureaucrats—not just top leadership (mayors, party secretaries)—who are instrumental in implementing climate policies.

2. Bridging Leadership and Its Importance

• Bridging Leaders as Catalysts (07:34–11:04)
  • The concept of "bridging leadership" refers to mid-level bureaucrats who sustain and advance climate initiatives as high-ranking leaders rotate.
  • Only a small minority of global (less than 10%) local climate pledges are on track, underscoring the importance of durable subnational leadership.
  • “Because of the middle level bureaucrats, they are the ones actually knows a lot about how to gain political support and build local implementation alliance.” (B, 09:29)
  • Three strategies identified by bridging leaders:
    1. Convincing top political leaders about the importance of low-carbon actions.
    2. Creating a group of trained personnel who devise and execute solutions.
    3. Building alliances to overcome resistance from vested interests.

3. Policy Experimentation in Chinese Cities

• Low-Carbon City Pilot Programs (11:04–15:10)

  • Policy experimentation—testing locally before scaling nationally—is a core governance strategy in China.
  • The National Low Carbon City Pilot program (since 2010): over 80 pilot cities, each experimenting with customized climate solutions.
  • Local governments have substantial leeway to set targets and test policies across sectors (industry, transport, energy).
  • Outcomes have been mixed, with variance in institutionalization and regulatory follow-through noted.

• Notable Examples (15:56–19:47)

  • Shenzhen: Launched the first local emission trading system, requiring 700+ industrial entities to participate and begin carbon accounting/reduction.
    • “Shenzhen was able to promote such program without a prior previous experience, mainly because of the local government leadership, particularly… the middle level bureaucrats.” (B, 16:39)
  • Nanchang: An inland, less affluent city, innovated by legislating for low-carbon development, creating annual research budgets and incentives for industry.
    • Demonstrates that not only wealthy cities participate in environmental leadership.
  • Both cases exemplify how local ingenuity, political support, and creative policymaking—often led by bridging bureaucrats—drive unique, locally relevant outcomes.

4. Impacts of Geopolitics and International Engagement

• Role of International Cooperation (20:33–27:28)
  • International partnerships have been crucial for local officials to learn about climate policy mechanisms and for capacity building.
  • Joint programs (e.g., with German development agencies) have shaped local understanding and policy design.
  • Shifting US-China relations influenced subnational collaboration: periods of cooperation under the Obama and Biden administrations were interrupted during the Trump era.
    • Recent signs of renewed partnership, such as MOUs between California and Chinese provinces, exist despite broader tensions.
  • Challenge remains in scaling local innovations without strong ongoing national support.

5. Subnational Climate Action and Geostrategy

• Cities' Role in Geostrategy (27:28–31:25)
  • Unlike the US, where cities may be mobilized for geostrategic aims, in China local initiatives remain primarily domestically focused, serving as laboratories for policy and capacity-building.
  • However, partnerships (e.g., Shanghai–Long Beach on green shipping) persist, reflecting flexibility at the subnational level even amid centralized national politics.
    • “Even in a centralized political system like China […] in dealing with the kind of climate challenges and also give rooms for those cities and provinces and continue their collaboration with the international partners is very impressive to me.” (B, 29:26)

6. Issues of Subnational-Federal Relations

• “Campaign-Style” Implementation and Over-Ambition (32:27–37:39)

  • China sometimes sees local governments over-committing to ambitious targets (“campaign-style implementation”), leading to problems in balancing economic and environmental goals.
    • The central government is vigilant about localities shutting down polluters too aggressively or over reporting success.
  • Challenges include scaling pilot initiatives and ensuring enough trained personnel for data accuracy and policy follow-through. Not all cities have dedicated climate agencies.
  • Progress is marked: from no climate institutions at provincial level in 2010 to nearly all provinces having a climate department by 2018.

• Coal and Energy Security (37:39–39:25)

  • Energy security concerns, especially post-Russia/Ukraine crisis, have elevated coal's status, sometimes pulling cities away from more ambitious green transitions.
  • Transition is harder in coal-dependent regions, which face competing demands from central authorities.

7. Closing Reflections on China as a Climate Leader

• Holistic View of Leadership (39:25–41:16)

  • Leadership should be judged not just by technological achievement in green sectors (EVs, solar, wind), but in durable, wide-reaching implementation and capacity-building at all levels.
  • International community should strive for nuanced understanding and create space for China to share its climate governance lessons.

  “If China can become a global leader in addressing climate change, it also needs to be delivered in its implementation on the ground.” (B, 39:36)

  “Important question… is how the international community can also create more space for China to really tell the story [of] what is actually work in its years of … climate policy.” (B, 40:41)

Notable Quotes

• "We tend to believe that all the orders from Beijing…can be implemented by the local government…but it’s not like the case as we assume about the top-down approach. It’s actually a lot of those engagement have been very various across regions."
  — Weila Gong (06:13)

• "Only less than 10% of those local areas in the regions are on track achieving some of their target…That points to the kind of subnational climate leadership."
  — Weila Gong (08:12)

• “Shenzhen was able to promote such program without a prior previous experience, mainly because of the local government leadership, particularly because of the middle level bureaucrats...”
  — Weila Gong (16:39)

• "Subnational engagement… has also been affected by the Moife rocking relationship among big countries including US and China."
  — Weila Gong (23:03)

• “Even in a centralized political system like China…[it is] very impressive to me [that] those cities and provinces continue their collaboration with international partners.”
  — Weila Gong (29:26)

• “If China can become a global leader in addressing climate change, it also needs to be delivered in its implementation on the ground.”
  — Weila Gong (39:36)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 04:35 – Gong discusses her research genesis and the role of mid-level bureaucrats
• 07:34 – Explanation of bridging leadership and strategies for durable climate policy
• 11:04 – Overview of China’s policy experimentation via Low-Carbon City Pilots
• 15:56 – Notable city-level policy initiatives (Shenzhen, Nanchang)
• 20:33 – Impacts of geopolitics and international cooperation on subnational climate action
• 27:28 – Discussion of cities’ strategic use in nation’s broader agendas
• 32:27 – “Campaign-style” implementation, policy scaling, and institutional capacity at the city level
• 37:39 – The tension between energy security and decarbonization
• 39:25 – Final reflections on China’s climate leadership and global expectations

Tone and Style

The conversation remains scholarly, empirical, and practical in tone, refraining from polemic or broad generalizations. The hosts and guest focus on policy complexities, governance dilemmas, and the functional realities facing Chinese localities, while emphasizing the importance of nuance and local agency within a centralized system.

Memorable Moment

Jessica’s observation brings the episode's theme into focus:
“I wish you could expand this to every single major city in the country because I’m so interested in these differences at the city level, and then how these very local bureaucrats end up transforming what…will eventually potentially be national level climate policies.” (A, 19:47)

For listeners seeking insights into how Chinese cities are actually implementing climate policy and the real inner workings of subnational governance, this episode is an instructive, nuanced, and timely resource.