Abstract:

The Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) serves as the focal point and benchmark for global climate governance. In 2023, global temperature broke instrumental records. The year-end COP28 broke all previous records of the conference, with over 80000 officially registered participants. As an essential platform for global climate governance, both the outcomes of the conference and the participants directly reflected the driving force behind climate governance and the trends of countries’ participation in global climate governance. The focus of China and the USA on global climate governance at the COP28 was explored through the analysis of previous COP participants and their compositions, as well as the delegation makeup of China and the USA at COP28, coupled with the climate policies and the current public perceptions of climate change in both countries. The results indicated that the climate policies and actions of both countries were relevant to the participation of their representatives at this COP. Due to the continuity of policies, the USA government reversed its passive stance during the Trump era and is now actively engaging in the conference. At this COP meeting, the USA focused on political efforts, with federal government officials as the primary participant group. China was actively engaged in political negotiation, and its conference delegated predominantly consist of experts from renewable energy and related technological fields. A review of China and the USA’ climate policies and public perception indicated that strengthened domestic climate policies and heightened public perception of climate change in both nations contributed positively to global climate governance.

Key words: COP28, Climate governance, Public perception, Comparison between China and the USA