Coordinators:
Usman Ashraf (University of Helsinki) 
Mira Käkönen (University of Helsinki) 
Chenmei Li (University of Helsinki) 

Description:
China has a paradoxical role in contemporary environmental politics. It is simultaneously the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases and consumer of coal, while also leading global investments in renewable energy and exporting low-carbon technologies, infrastructure, and environmental solutions around the world. As China’s domestic green transition gathers momentum, Chinese state agencies, financiers, companies, experts, and other actors are increasingly shaping environmental futures far beyond China’s borders.

This panel explores the emergence and implications of China’s growing ‘green power’ both within China and across the global South. We invite papers that examine how forms of Chinese green power are produced, mobilised, experienced, and contested across diverse contexts. We are especially interested in the connections between China’s domestic greening efforts and the greening, or not, of its overseas engagements in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and beyond. Contributions are also encouraged to pay attention to the tensions, contradictions, and power relations embedded in green and low-carbon transitions, including competing development visions, environmental justice concerns, and uneven social and ecological outcomes.

The panel aims to bring the following bodies of scholarship into conversation: China studies, research on global China, global development studies and critical environmental social science, including political ecology.

We welcome papers addressing topics such as:

• Green transition and its discontents: China’s domestic green transition and its global implications
• The role and implications of techno-solutionism and techno-optimism in Chinese green transition initiatives
• The greening of South-South cooperation and Chinese overseas engagements such as the Belt and Road Initiative.
• Chinese environmental diplomacy and initiatives in climate governance, climate finance and carbon markets
• China’s global footprint in forest, water, and biodiversity governance
• Environmental justice, resistance, and contestation 

Type of call:
Call for Papers/Abstracts

Participation mode:
Hybrid (in-person and Zoom)

Submission details:
For submissions and inquiries please contact Usman Ashraf (usman.ashraf@helsinki.fi) and Chenmei Li at (chenmei.li@helsinki.fi)

Funding note: 
The participants are expected to secure their own funding. 

Contacts:
Usman Ashraf, usman.ashraf@helsinki.fi
Chenmei Li, chenmei.li@helsinki.fi