Sino-US NGO-level cooperation on green transition seen as vital

China-United States cooperation on the green transition among NGOs, think tanks and businesses still has solid ground to move forward despite the US' withdrawal from the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement, Chinese environmental experts said, citing corporate demand for greener supply chains and growing needs for climate adaptation.

While official climate dialogue between the two countries faces uncertainties, US companies remain part of the global trading system and continue to face pressure from trade rules to cut emissions and improve environmental performance, said Ma Jun, founding director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs.

"The work has not stopped," Ma said. "It is very practical, especially when it comes to supply chains. Through cooperation, better results can be achieved."

Ma said his organization has continued working with US NGOs and companies to help enterprises green their supply chains, including by encouraging suppliers in China to conduct carbon accounting, disclose emissions data and set emissions-reduction targets.

Although the US has withdrawn from the Paris Agreement, many international trade, investment and financing rules still carry green and low-carbon requirements, Ma said.

"That means companies have to carry out this work," he said. "Wherever their industrial and supply chains are located, they need to push these efforts forward and deliver results, and cooperation can make the process more efficient."

He said cooperation still has room to deepen in areas such as transportation decarbonization, the energy transition, methane monitoring and emissions reduction, green finance, product carbon footprints, green logistics and emission cuts in hard-to-abate industries.

Climate adaptation is another area where cooperation is becoming increasingly urgent, experts said, as heat waves, floods and other extreme weather events expose communities in both countries to growing risks.

Wang Xiaojun, executive director of the Manila-based People of Asia for Climate Solutions, said cooperation between Chinese and US NGOs on climate change is "not a question of whether it can be done, but something that must be done".

"Climate change has no borders," he said.

Wang said adaptation may offer broader and more immediate opportunities for NGO cooperation, including in disaster response, community resilience and public health protection amid extreme weather. However, he noted that global financing for adaptation remains limited, making cross-border work in the field difficult.

He also pointed to subnational cooperation as an important channel. Since 2025, he said, more attention has been paid to exchanges between China and US provinces, states and cities.

US states such as California remain active in climate-related fields, including electrification, data centers, clean transport, electricity use and industrial emissions reduction, Wang said. Even if the US federal government has stepped back from the Paris process, local governments, companies and civil society groups can still participate in UN climate conferences and other international platforms, creating opportunities for dialogue with Chinese local governments and enterprises, he added.

Yang Peidan, executive director of C Team, also known as China Champions for Climate Action, said China-US climate cooperation has continued among NGOs and philanthropic organizations.

Yang, a senior NGO worker in China's climate field, said she has personally observed that some US-headquartered foundations set up new representative offices in Beijing last year, while longer-established institutions have maintained cooperation with Chinese partners.

Yang said NGOs can help maintain people-to-people exchanges. Youth exchanges, visits to Chinese renewable energy and electric vehicle projects, and cooperation on ESG, or the Environmental, Social and Governance framework, can help US visitors better understand China's green transition, she said.

Guo Hongyu, deputy director of Beijing-based nonprofit Greenovation Hub, said non-state actors can still play a role in policy dialogue, financing discussions and global climate governance.

GHub has worked with academics and think tanks from the US and developing countries during UN climate talks and informal dialogues, including on clean energy transition and innovative financing for green, low-carbon and climate-resilient development, she said.

"The US withdrawal creates greater uncertainty for international climate governance and cooperation," Guo said. "Still, non-state actors including think tanks and NGOs could play a key role in promoting knowledge sharing, fostering mutual understanding and advancing on-the-ground innovation."

Such cooperation, she said, can help showcase subnational climate progress, identify demand-driven solutions for developing countries and support engagement in platforms such as the UN climate process and the Civil 20.

But Ma cautioned that civil society cooperation, important as it is, has clear limits. "NGO-level cooperation cannot fully replace government-to-government cooperation," he said. "It is only a supplement, but this part of the work has not stopped."