Events

We are organising a series of events including workshops, seminars and conferences to gather thoughts, inspire research and disseminate outputs.
‘The Climate Crisis: Making Cities Resilient’— The Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society 2025 Conference, 17 – 18 July 2025.

Funded by the ERC project, Prof. Fangzhu Zhang and Miss Handuo Deng participated in The Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society 2025 Conference at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, UK, in 17-18 July 2025. They shared findings on Chinese climate statecraft based on investigations in Wuxi and Chengdu.

Prof. Fangzhu Zhang and Handuo Deng presented their collaborative research (with Prof. Fulong Wu) entitled ‘Chinese climate statecraft: governing low-carbon transitions in urban China.’

The paper explores how Chinese climate statecraft manages urban low-carbon initiatives beyond growth-driven interests. It is not an exhaustive policy review. Rather, it aims to understand whether and how the state enhances its governance capacity through climate interventions. Statecraft—as an art of governance and state survival (Pike, 2023; Wu et al., 2024, 2025)—operates through formal state institutions, quasi-state agents, and non-state actors. By introducing statecraft into climate governance (Feng et al., 2024), the paper seeks to explore the collaboration and tensions between the multi-level state, market, and society in reducing carbon emissions and adapting cities and regions to climate change.

Photos by CPRG