Contrasting Stances on Sustainability by the USA and China

Abstract

As the world’s preeminent greenhouse gas emitters, the United States and China are moving along increasingly divergent sustainability trajectories. Applying a political economy and demographic lens, this article contends that national emission profiles are shaped by a complex interplay of climate threat perceptions, state capacity, energy strategies and shifting attitudes toward multilateralism. While China integrates rapid renewable expansion with persistent fossil fuel reliance under a state-led developmental model, the United States has recently implemented domestic deregulation and withdrawal from international climate accords. Beyond these institutional contrasts, a paradoxical convergence in attitudes toward population growth, despite the nations’ sharply different demographic trends, is identified. Overall, the analysis advances the discourse on climate inequality and the viability of collective global climate action, highlighting how demographic dynamics and political economy jointly determine the prospects for sustainability.