Rethinking China’s clean energy transitions: eco-security and authoritarian sustainability

The chapter revisits China’s management of transitions towards clean energy and explores its institutional arrangements for governance. It delves into the emergence, dynamism, and constraints of experimentation within the structure of governing clean energy transitions. Using the case of clean energy transitions, this chapter questions how and to what extent the Chinese mode of eco-political experimentation can provide a conducive strategy or sources of transformative change in the face of the catastrophic climate crisis. I argue that China’s approach to clean energy governance experiments primarily focuses on reinforcing the integration of regulatory measures within the state-building process, especially within a developmental context. This involves establishing the concept of “ecological security”, not only to address specific environmental issues within a framework of experimental governance but also to redefine securitization, thereby perpetuating environmental authoritarianism. This approach facilitates increased peacekeeping interventions and the implementation of green industrial policies aimed at sustaining the current economic trajectory without forcing a radical shift towards a more sustainable energy structure.