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Project on China's State-Owned Enterprises and the Low-Carbon Transition

Led by Professor Michael Davidson at the UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy

Overview

SOEs account for over half of China’s CO₂ emissions and dominate high-emitting sectors such as coal, electricity, and heavy industry. Furthermore, their leaders operate within a dense web of bureaucratic mandates and market incentives, tasked with advancing public policy priorities while maintaining enterprise viability. What role do China’s state-owned enterprises (SOEs) play in the country’s low-carbon transition? How are these firms balancing their responsibilities to national climate goals with the pressures of commercial performance? What institutional and economic forces are shaping their behavior today?

This project brings together researchers and practitioners to examine the challenges for SOEs to advance China’s climate goals and how they can be mobilized to support a more ambitious and equitable energy transition. Through research, convenings, and policy dialogue, the project investigates the institutional, technological and economic dynamics that influence SOE behavior and how this can inform domestic policymaking and support international cooperation on climate change.

Key Research Areas

SOE Leadership and Incentives: How leadership selection, promotion pathways, and Party-State governance structures shapes climate-related decision-making within SOEs

Green Finance and Investment Behavior: How financial instruments — including green credit policies, interest rate structures, and ESG disclosure requirements — affect investment strategies within SOEs

Employment Transitions and Workforce Strategies: How SOEs approach workforce downsizing, redeployment, and job creation to achieve carbon peaking and fossil fuel phase-down efforts

Reform Trajectories and Institutional Constraints: How ongoing SOE reforms — from strategic mergers and re-centralization to selective marketization — interact with China’s climate policy goals

Research Outputs

Past Events and Key Takeaways