Heatwaves and drought must turn US and China away from rivalry towards cooperation on climate change

The world’s two largest economies have a responsibility to lead the fight against climate change, but have instead adopted a divisive tit-for-tat strategy
In addressing the climate challenge, they could learn from water management in Israel, flood control in the Netherlands, and vertical farming in the UAE

Christopher Tang

Published: 6:45am, 31 Aug 2022

Why you can trust SCMP

The United States and China may be on different geopolitical paths but they face a common climate crisis. Instead of expending all their efforts on competing against each other, the world’s two biggest economies have a responsibility to address the climate threat – before it is too late.

As the US-China conflict widened from trade and technology to finance and education, both nations have started to decouple their economies. In the US, “friend-shoring” to diversify supply bases beyond China, “near-shoring” with Mexico and reshoring are gaining momentum.

At the Group of Seven meeting in June, US President Joe Biden announced plans to invest US$600 billion in infrastructure in developing countries as a counter to China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

Soon after, during the June BRICS summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping encouraged other countries to join the bloc currently comprising Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa. Iran and Argentina have since reportedly applied to do so.

This tit-for-tat strategy threatens to split the world into at least two blocs. It would take much effort but generate little benefit, if any. Meanwhile both countries, along with many others, continue to suffer from extreme weather, which severely affects lives and economies.

03:12

At least 4 dead as California’s biggest wildfire of 2022 continues to spread

In the US, the number of wildfires and size of burnt areas have increased over the past decade. From January to July this year, more than 39,000 wildfires left close to 6 million acres burnt. Although half the country is in drought, six rare one-in-1,000-year rain events occurred last month, causing flash floods and destroying homes.

In China, the south is facing an unprecedented drought. Amid prolonged heatwaves and with rainfall down by 45 per cent, the water level of the Yangtze River, which supplies more than 400 million Chinese people, reached a record low.

This created an energy crisis for the hydropower-dependent Sichuan, which ordered a six-day shutdown of factories. Companies affected included Texas Instruments, Intel, Toyota and Volkswagen.

Millions of Chinese are facing a shortage of energy and drinking water. Without sufficient water, farmers cannot grow crops or raise livestock. The country’s drought is estimated to have affected at least 2.46 million people and 2.2 million hectares of agricultural land in at least six provinces.

02:15

Villager fishes in drying pools at China’s biggest freshwater lake

In the face of a common climate threat, the US and China should take immediate action to save themselves and humanity. I suggest three examples that we should learn more from.

First, we can adopt more widely Israel’s methods of recycling and reusing water, and reducing its consumption. A country that is more than half desert, Israel produces 20 per cent more water than it needs.

Since 1985, Israel has pioneered a system to collect, treat and recycle waste water, distributing the treated water to farms. Its drip irrigation technology, which cuts water use in agriculture, has been introduced in Italy, Türkiye, India and China.

Drip irrigation is used in a windbreak forest in Golmud, in northwestern China’s Qinghai province, in May 2012. Photo: Xinhua

In reducing the gap between consumer demand and available water, Israel also became a world leader in waste-water reclamation, treating and recycling 86 per cent of its waste water for agricultural operations by 2015.

A pioneer in desalination, Israel’s seven plants – two under construction – aim to support up to 90 per cent of its water consumption. This seawater reverse-osmosis desalination technology is spreading to places such as California and Singapore.

Second, we can learn more from how the Netherlands – 26 per cent of which is below sea level – copes with river flooding and rising sea levels. A land of canals, dams and dykes, the government is completing this year its massive Room for the River programme announced in 2007, creating catchment areas to head off floodwater.

03:11

At least 59 killed by floods in Germany after record rainfall lashes western Europe

The initiative, which includes more than 30 projects along the Maas and Rhine Rivers was put to the test during Europe’s catastrophic floods in July last year – no one died in the Netherlands and the large urban centres stayed safe and dry. China is already keen to tap Dutch expertise.

The Netherlands is also famous for its Delta Works, massive sea defences aimed at preventing one-in-10,000-year floods. Still, to ensure public safety, many hospitals, schools, nursing homes, computer server facilities and critical infrastructure were moved to higher ground.

Third, we can learn more from the United Arab Emirates, a federation that is mostly desert, in how it grows fruit and vegetables locally instead of relying on imports – through vertical farming.

By using solar and other renewable energy, and harvesting recycled water, these farms not only grow crops but also integrate fish and crustacean farming to produce nutrient-rich waste as fertiliser. Because vertical farms can be within or near urban centres, the produce travels shorter distances and has a smaller carbon footprint.

02:54

Inside Hong Kong’s hi-tech vertical farm of the future

Since its first urban vertical farm opened in 2016, the UAE has embraced the movement to address both the climate crisis and supply chain disruptions. Last month, it opened the world’s largest vertical farm, the 330,000 sq ft Emirates Crop One in Dubai. The farm is capable of producing over 2 million lbs (more than 900,000kg) of leafy greens annually, and will grow lettuces, arugula, mixed salad greens and spinach.

The climate crisis threatens all of mankind. If humans face extinction – like the migratory monarch butterflies, or the dugong that hasn’t been seen in China for years – which country dominates the world economy is irrelevant. The US and China can carry on with their rhetoric, but climate change won’t wait.

Christopher S. Tang is a distinguished professor at the UCLA Anderson School of Management