New Book out! Implementing a Low-Carbon Future: Climate Leadership in Chinese Cities
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Weila Gong
Nov 19, 2025, 4:16:35 AM (9 days ago) Nov 19
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Dear colleagues,
I’m delighted to share that my book, Implementing a Low-Carbon Future: Climate Leadership in Chinese Cities, is out today with Oxford University Press.
In an era of rising geopolitical tensions and of national-level political gridlock, subnational governments can potentially play an essential role in combating global climate change. Can subnational governments introduce and sustain climate policy actions through changes in political leadership? Why do some local areas continue to deliver on their climate goals while others struggle to do so? How has climate ambition been translated into sustained implementation?
Despite being the world's largest carbon emitter, China has pledged to attain peak carbon before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060. Since the early 2010s, Beijing has selected more than one hundred local low-carbon pilots at the township, municipal, and provincial levels to engage in policy experimentation. They aim to identify policies that will boost local economic growth without increasing the use of fossil fuels. I examine four cases of such policy experimentation and find variation in the levels of low-carbon policy institutionalization, including the standards, regulations, and laws put into place.
Based on original research including extensive expert interviews, comparative case studies, and process tracing of these pilot cities’ low-carbon policy experimentation, I open the black box of the subnational climate policy process in China's centralized political system. I argue that mid-level local bureaucrats play an essential "bridge leader" role that facilitates successful implementation despite changes in political leadership.
Buy the book with a 30% discount from Oxford University Press using the code ASFLY30 here or on Amazon here.
I’m delighted to share that my book, Implementing a Low-Carbon Future: Climate Leadership in Chinese Cities, is out today with Oxford University Press.
In an era of rising geopolitical tensions and of national-level political gridlock, subnational governments can potentially play an essential role in combating global climate change. Can subnational governments introduce and sustain climate policy actions through changes in political leadership? Why do some local areas continue to deliver on their climate goals while others struggle to do so? How has climate ambition been translated into sustained implementation?
Despite being the world's largest carbon emitter, China has pledged to attain peak carbon before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060. Since the early 2010s, Beijing has selected more than one hundred local low-carbon pilots at the township, municipal, and provincial levels to engage in policy experimentation. They aim to identify policies that will boost local economic growth without increasing the use of fossil fuels. I examine four cases of such policy experimentation and find variation in the levels of low-carbon policy institutionalization, including the standards, regulations, and laws put into place.
Based on original research including extensive expert interviews, comparative case studies, and process tracing of these pilot cities’ low-carbon policy experimentation, I open the black box of the subnational climate policy process in China's centralized political system. I argue that mid-level local bureaucrats play an essential "bridge leader" role that facilitates successful implementation despite changes in political leadership.
Buy the book with a 30% discount from Oxford University Press using the code ASFLY30 here or on Amazon here.
Best regards,
Weila
Weila
Weila Gong, PhD
Visiting Scholar
Center for Environmental Policy and Behavior
University of California, Davis
Nonresident Scholar
21st Century China Center
School of Global Policy and Strategy
University of California, San Diego
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