Discourse on climate change in China: A public sphere without the public

Abstract

In 2007 China passed the United States to become the greatest emitter of carbon dioxide (CO2). In the same year a report was published by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Following this report, the Chinese media began to make a link between human activity and climate change. To analyse the climate discourse that has emerged since the publication of the report, this article draws on the argument of Guobin Yang and Craig Calhoun that China has a green public sphere. In China amid the messages to consume more are messages broadcast for the masses by the Chinese state and foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) advocating ‘green’ and ‘low-carbon’ lifestyles with little mention of climate change or questioning of existing policies. Smaller spaces or publics exist and are primarily occupied by governmental and non-governmental elites that debate and discuss climate change in serious and playful manners. Yet it is in spaces that are not public where policies are being crafted which influence the emissions of greenhouse gases in China, while citizens focus on their economic livelihood.