EU-China Climate Governance After the 2025 Summit: Opportunities, Challenges and Prospects

Source: JLB1988

Commentary by Isabell Raue, Research Assistant, ICES

August 4, 2025

The recent joint EU-China press statement on climate underscores the potential of climate governance to stabilise bilateral relations and signal shared leadership in global climate diplomacy. While the statement reaffirms commitments to the Paris Agreement and multilateral cooperation, it lacks concrete actions, highlighting persistent divergences, geopolitical tensions, and structural constraints in ambitious climate agendas. Nevertheless, sustained EU–China collaboration on green policies remains essential for advancing multilateralism, fostering innovation, and addressing the urgent global challenge of climate change. Both sides must, amid tense relations, foster communication and cooperation on this issue as it will benefit mutual interests and is urgently necessary for a greater public good.

The recent environment high level dialogue and joint statement on climate cooperation between China and the European Union (EU) once again underscored the role of climate governance as a stabilising factor in the bilateral relationship. This area of engagement has long been widely accepted as cornerstone of cooperation, as it is based on a shared sense of urgency, and mutual incentives, capacities and responsibilities. Over the last decades, a number of climate partnerships have been established and EU-China green cooperation, underpinned by the ambitious goals and contributions of both sides, has continued to expand. However, the climate agenda cannot be depoliticised to the extent some commentators had hoped, and the current geopolitical landscape offers little hope for further progress. It is marked by multi-layered tensions, including global trade disputes and outbreak of wars and conflicts that once again contribute to global emissions. Addressing this challenge is beyond the capacity of any single state but requires strategic cooperation despite divergent geopolitical ambitions, economic policies and normative goals.

Climate governance, the diplomacy and measures undertaken by diverse actors to promote and implement climate solutions addressing the global climate change, has become a central topic of international politics and geopolitics. In light of the increasing and severe impact of climate change, compounded by geopolitical tensions, trade issues and differing security priorities, the need for a joint agenda is pressing. The recent EU-China summit underlined that environmental diplomacy constitutes a global concern, requiring the action and collaboration of major international actors: “[The] China-EU green partnership is an important part of the China-EU partnership, […] green is the defining [colour] of China-EU cooperation”.

During the EU-China summit in July 2025, coinciding with the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the Paris Agreement, the only substantial outcome was the joint EU-China press statement on climate. Although the statement does not include any new concrete actions or cooperation strategies, it reaffirms commitment to the goals of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and Paris Agreement, as well as the joint intention to enhance cooperation in key fields, such as renewable energy, adaptation, methane, carbon markets, and circular economy, as well as to submit 2035 Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) ahead of the 30th UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP 30).

The symbolic alignment achieved at the summit represents not only a positive outcome, despite the increasingly strained relations in the lead-up to the meetings in Beijing, but it also signals unity on a globally pressing issue that requires the commitment of both major actors. This is particularly significant at a moment when COP30 is scheduled to take place in Brazil in November 2025 and global climate action is under heightened scrutiny, especially in light of US disengagement post 2024 elections. The commitment and leadership of the EU and China, two ambitious, highly emitting, regionally influential actors, is sending strong signals. As emphasised during COP29, EU-China leadership, managed competition and cooperation on multilateral platforms and in the international environment are urgent and crucial. However, while the strategic importance of communication, shared goals, mutual recognition and climate commitment is evident, little to no operational commitment arises from the statement. Observers of EU–China climate relations continue to await concrete actions or the establishment of working groups.

While both sides commit to accelerating the global deployment of renewable energy, facilitating access to green technologies, supporting climate adaptation, and cooperating to promote ambitious and balanced COP30 outcomes, large challenges and divergences persist. European criticism of lacking Chinese climate leadership and its continued economic reliance on coal remains a point of contention, even though both sides face dependencies on fossil fuels. Moreover, the EU’s push for “de-risking” and pursuit of (green) strategic autonomy, as well as the lack of enforcement mechanisms andmultilateral fragmentation (partially) constrain ambitious climate goals and cooperation. Further, the interconnectedness of geopolitical, economic and climate issues further risks politicising climate cooperation, potentially undermining its effectiveness. In this context, also the notion of “climate exceptionalism” risks to mask broader governance failures or result in uncritical assessments of cooperation that disregards broader divergences.

Nevertheless, for COP30 and the Global Climate Architecture, the agreement sends important signals to other relevant actors, including the US and countries of the Global South, underlining the continuity of EU-China cooperation and the centrality of climate issues within it. Opportunities for ambitious agendas, the development of international standards and establishment of plurilateral mechanisms arise through sustained EU–China collaboration.

EU-Chinese joint climate action, diplomacy, and leadership hold numerous benefits, not only for the global public good but also their national interests. Collaborative climate leadership can serve as a stabilising force in an otherwise unstable global order. As China's first special envoy on climate change, Xie Zhenhua, stated, joint global climate governance has the potential to occur and even provide stability in an uncertain international order. Through cooperation and dialogue, the promotion of multilateralism can be reinforced. Supporting the rules-based order is beneficial for both sides and their climate ambitions. Furthermore, a successful leadership role in the green transition enhances Chinese and European soft power, providing opportunities to set norms and establish international standards.

Therefore, both sides must actively engage across all green policies fields that permit or require cooperation and framework-setting, including carbon pricing, digital technology emergence, and innovation. Recognising climate issues as common ground in times of global tensions is essential to improve global coordination. Especially the support of innovative and bottom-up solutions can play a pivotal role in climate governance. More broadly, prioritising green policies a core issue in upholding multilateralism, a goal repeatedly emphasised by both parties, allows to build on the mentioned common interests. The joint statement, coherent communication, and the repeated references to the Paris Climate Agreement and multilateral fora constitute an important political signal in this regard. While such measures cannot eliminate divergences and tensions at all levels, the commitment to climate cooperation and dialogue, as expressed at the 25th EU-China summit, is vital for global stability and can help lay the foundations for a functional multilateral order.

In conclusion, despite the criticisms that the joint statement was primarily issued to demonstrate tangible outcomes during a pivotal but turbulent year in EU–China relations, it represents a shared commitment in climate governance that could support future climate diplomacy and influence global efforts to combat climate change. However, its success will depend on acknowledging and dealing with green policy divergences and translating high- level agreements into concrete, actionable policies. Future EU–China climate cooperation will depend on insulating green diplomacy from strategic rivalry and whether pragmatic engagement - instead of a fully integrated partnership - can sustain meaningful progress. The coming months, including COP30, will be critical in determining the trajectory of this bilateral relationship and its impact on global climate governance. These developments will reveal whether the statement can be understood as a modest success against the background of a difficult environment and both sides are able to translate political will into tangible actions, or whether the latest joint statement merely reflects the need to present results from the summit. What is certain is that, particularly against the background of limited climate action from the US under President Trump, emerging digital technologies, ongoing conflicts, and the accelerating impacts of climate change, both China and the EU face significant climate challenges that need to be addressed collaboratively.