Progress in China’s shale gas exploration has been non-existent, and in the past three years approximately 4.8 million Chinese have died from air pollution from burning coal. Partnerships with large U.S. oil and gas companies, demonstration projects, and the use of auctions, may not be the answer however; the U.S.’s own shale gas revolution showed that a mass of small, innovative, new companies were its catalyst.

Many of the new climate change-related developments within the Strategic and Economic Dialogue emerged from a summit that brought U.S. and Chinese policymakers and private sector leaders together to establish cooperative relationships. Benjamin Reynolds describes some of the interesting and practical agreements on energy and climate change between private and public sectors, but also reminds us that previous climate accords have always struggled to enforce climate targets that are often conveniently forgotten after big summits.

China and the U.S. are actively promoting the changes set out in the Paris Climate Agreement signed at the end of April. China’s already shut down enough coal mines to cut CO2 emissions equal to the entirety of Great Britain’s annual emissions, but what else is needed to keep under two degrees Celsius?

The landmark climate deal negotiated last week in Paris is important first step. However, increased coordination and cooperation between developed and developing countries to enable these much-needed reforms is critical. This includes collective learning, building tools to help strengthen institutional capacity and develop green growth policy, expanding peer learning and knowledge sharing, and engaging private investors and public donors.

China accounts for half of the worlds coal consumption, which greatly contributes to its 30% share of global CO2 emissions. Decreasing reliance on coal is part of China’s progress for reaching the goals set by the U.S.-China climate agreement. Investment in solar and wind renewable energy are further contributing to reaching targets sooner than expected.

While conversations about China’s environmental challenges are often dominated by coal, the culprit for the endless smoggy days in cities across the country, progress in cleaning the air cannot be achieved without greater attention to resource interdependencies from an integrated water-energy-food lens. Susuan Chan Shifflett outlines sustainable policy development that is particularly promising for Sino-U.S. collaboration.

Newly adopted climate mitigations have caused China’s coal and electricity consumption to fall the first time this century. Coal and heavy industries were the most targeted sectors, which has led to more demand from unconventional oil extraction – extraction that could have unintended negative consequences.

Increasingly, China’s local environmental groups are finding themselves well positioned to ensure governmental support for environmental improvement and accountability. The national government of China has signaled a green light for citizen groups to take an active part in forging a more sustainable development path, but local governments are still unsure of the role that civil society groups can and will play in improving China’s environment.

Chinese economists predict growth will slow from the current 7% to around 5% if China's carbon emissions are to peak in 2030. Qi Ye posits that climate commitment may constrain China’s economic growth rate, but not necessarily growth itself.

The commitments made at the Xi-Obama summit to reduce CO2 emissions are significant yet challenging for both nations to carry out over the next decade. The U.S. faces a more conservative Congress, and China faces the daunting task of creating to hydro and wind energy sources at a large enough scale. Both sides need to deliver, lest one side fault the other for not fulfilling their commitment.