China’s stabilizing role in global energy governance has become increasingly prominent

Global energy issues are emerging at the center of the global political economy. On the surface, the current crisis concerns maritime routes, oil and gas transportation and regional security. At a deeper level, however, it reflects the profound pressure now bearing on the global energy governance order: Market mechanisms are being squeezed by the logic of security; open flows are being constrained by bloc confrontation; and multilateral coordination is being weakened by unilateral pressure.

Energy security should provide support for development. If it is excessively instrumentalized, it erodes the open environment on which development depends. At a deeper level, the weaponization of energy is becoming a significant manifestation of the imbalance in global governance. Today, route control, financial settlement, sanctions lists, insurance premiums, technological barriers and “rules-based” exclusion are increasingly layered upon one another. Energy is being used more and more as a tool of strategic pressure. The vulnerability of energy systems is an objective reality, but the weaponization of energy is a political choice. It not only raises the institutional costs that countries face in accessing energy, but also places developing countries under greater energy security pressure amid the green transition.

The old foundations of global energy governance are declining. As great power competition intensifies, the generalized use of sanctions, the exclusionary turn in rule-making and the securitization of trade instruments continue to spread. Governance mechanisms that were originally designed to reduce uncertainty are becoming less able to withstand the impact of political conflict. As a result, global energy governance has entered a more turbulent period of adjustment.

Yet crisis does not only signify disorder, but also points to the possibility of reconstruction. Future energy governance should instead shift toward a new logic that places greater emphasis on systemic resilience, capacity building, green transition and multilateral coordination.

What the world needs is not to turn energy into a bargaining chip of geopolitical competition, but to establish a more stable connection between energy security and climate governance. Nor does it need the creation of more closed and exclusive circles. Rather, it needs transition pathways that countries at different stages of development can participate in, afford and sustain.

China can serve as an anchor of stability in global energy governance because it offers a governance vision distinct from zero-sum competition and bloc confrontation. Faced with a complex situation in which energy security, green transition and the right to development are deeply intertwined, China does not reduce energy to a power struggle of control and counter-control. Instead, it upholds common security, green development, mutually beneficial cooperation and harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature.

China advocates the building of a community with a shared future for humanity and works to translate the four global initiatives it proposed into practical outcomes. It emphasizes the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries in the energy transition and opposes turning the green transition into a new form of barrier politics. This vision is not an abstract slogan, but an important prerequisite for reopening space for cooperation in a turbulent world.

The solid foundation of China’s stabilizing role also comes from its commitment to steadily advancing energy transition and green industrial development. By the end of 2025, China’s installed renewable energy capacity had reached 2.34 billion kilowatts, accounting for about 60 percent of the country’s total installed power generation capacity. The combined installed capacity of wind and solar power had reached 1.84 billion kw, surpassing that of thermal power.

More importantly, China’s green transition is not a breakthrough in a single area, but a coordinated advance across wind power, photovoltaics, energy storage, power grids, electric vehicles and green manufacturing. With its super-large market, complete industrial system and sustained capacity for innovation, China is no longer merely a bearer of fluctuations in the global energy market. It has become an important provider of global green transition capacity.

This capacity is particularly important for the world today. With uncertainties over traditional oil and gas supply routes, expanding the supply of clean energy, strengthening the resilience of power systems and accelerating the electrification of end-use energy consumption are not only issues of climate governance, but also issues of energy security. The development of China’s new energy industries has reduced the global cost of applying green technologies, expanded the energy transition options available to developing countries and provided a new source of stability for the global energy system. China’s contribution to global energy governance is reflected not only in its positions and initiatives, but also in the practical support constituted by equipment, technologies, industry chains, markets and development experience.

At the same time, China’s constructive role in global energy governance continues to expand. China remains committed to advancing climate and energy cooperation within multilateral frameworks, actively participates in the process of global climate governance, promotes the Green Belt and Road Initiative, deepens South-South cooperation, and supports developing countries in strengthening their clean energy capacity and climate adaptation capacity.

This is especially critical at present. What global energy governance lacks most is not high-profile statements, but cooperative platforms capable of linking the right to security, the right to development and the right to transition. What it needs most is not exclusion in the name of rules, but the creation of conditions under which more countries can gain capacity, opportunity and benefits in the green transition. What China provides is precisely such a cooperative path, one that is more inclusive and places greater emphasis on common development.

As China plays a greater role, it will also face external constraints and discursive competition. It is necessary to maintain strategic resolve by further transforming the scale advantages of China’s own energy transition into systemic advantages, cooperative advantages and rule-shaping capacity. It should expand consensus through open cooperation, consolidate security through green development and stabilize expectations through multilateral coordination.

In the face of excessive securitization and weaponization of energy, as well as global governance imbalances, the truly promising path lies not in closure, confrontation and exclusion, but in responding to risks through cooperation, shaping the future through transition and consolidating security through development. The stronger the winds and waves, the clearer the anchor’s value. The significance of China as an anchor of stability in global energy governance lies precisely in its continued provision of valuable stability, certainty and space for cooperation to an uncertain world.

Yu Hongyuan is a professor at the School of Political Science & International Relations at Tongji University. Hua Gechunyue is a doctoral candidate in international relations at the School of Political Science and International Relations at Tongji University.

The authors contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

Contact the editor at editor@chinawatch.cn.