Article by Liu Dong, with contributions from Zhao Yun, and first published in The Paper.
Key takeaways:
- Policy Leadership and Market Certainty: Clear regulations and long-term incentives supporting the green transition is key for investor confidence and citizen buy-in.
- Balancing Digital Transformation: While artificial intelligence (AI) and digital tools can optimize energy systems, strong governance is needed to manage their growing environmental impact and greenhouse gas emissions.
- Sustained Multilateralism: Continuous international dialogue and collaboration platforms like CCICED remain essential to bridge geopolitical divides and keep long-term climate targets on track.
As global multilateral governance faces increasing fragmentation, aligning low-carbon transition policies with durable economic drivers is critical for global sustainability. In this exclusive interview, Achim Steiner—International Vice Chairperson of CCICED and former UN Under-Secretary-General—addresses the “twin transitions” of green tech and digitalization, institutional innovations in the circular economy, the vital role of public support, and provides a strategic roadmap for maintaining momentum toward the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
In September, the United Nations General Assembly in New York grappled with the challenges of fragmentation in global multilateral governance. Meanwhile, in Beijing, the 2026 Annual Meeting of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED), themed “Pragmatic and Innovative Cooperation, Advancing Together for Green Development,” explored concrete Chinese solutions for the global low-carbon transition.
“What matters now is making the connection between environmental progress and economic opportunity a lasting feature of the economy,” Achim Steiner, International Vice Chairperson of CCICED, told The Paper. His remarks at this important forum connecting China and the international community attracted considerable attention.
Steiner has previously served as UN Under-Secretary-General, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). He currently serves as a Senior Fellow at the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford, and Chair of the Hamburg Sustainability Conference. His career spans both environmental governance and multilateral development institutions.
On the occasion of the launch of The Paper’s Earth Channel, Steiner sat down for an exclusive interview with The Paper. He discussed how to make green development an endogenous driver of economic growth, the opportunities and challenges of the “twin transition” of digitalization and green development, institutional innovation in the circular economy, the importance of sustaining multilateral cooperation, the implementation of climate policies, and CCICED’s role over the next five years. His reflections offer an in-depth analysis of the institutional innovations and difficult choices facing China and the world in the final stretch towards the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Making Green Development a Lasting Driver of Economic Growth
The Paper: Today, you described the evolution of the relationship between green development and economic development as a shift “from conflict and contradiction to mutual reinforcement.” From a political economy perspective, what institutional conditions are required to truly lock in this transition? Which institutional arrangements are most effective in transforming green development from a constraint on development into an endogenous driver of growth?
Achim Steiner: For much of my career, environmental protection was presented as a cost that economies could only afford once they had become wealthy. That view overlooked the economic costs of pollution, ill health and depleted natural resources. It also underestimated the opportunities created by investing in a different development pathway.
China’s green transformation has helped change this debate. What matters now is making the connection between environmental progress and economic opportunity a lasting feature of the economy.
That requires a clear direction from government, consistent rules and financial incentives, and room for enterprises to innovate. A business investing in cleaner production needs confidence that its investment will be rewarded. Local authorities need to be assessed on the quality of development as well as its quantity.
Above all, people must experience the benefits through cleaner air, lower energy costs and better employment opportunities. That is what gives green development its strongest and most durable foundation.
The Paper: Digitalization is widely expected to empower the green transition, but it also has an environmental footprint of its own, particularly with the rapid development of artificial intelligence. Should digitalization be positioned primarily as a tool for improving efficiency or as a catalyst for systemic transformation? China’s 15th Five-Year Plan treats digitalization and green development as mutually reinforcing strategies. What underestimated challenges and opportunities does this “twin transition” present?
Achim Steiner: Digitalization can help us do familiar things more efficiently, but its greater potential lies in helping us do things differently. Consider electricity: digital systems can connect millions of producers and consumers, making it easier to integrate renewable energy and manage demand. That changes how the energy system works.
Yet we should avoid assuming that everything digital is environmentally beneficial. Artificial intelligence requires electricity, cooling water and physical infrastructure. Its value should be judged against the resources it consumes and the problems it helps solve.
For China, an important opportunity is to connect its digital capabilities with its green industries, cities and infrastructure. The challenge is to ensure that these gains reach smaller businesses and ordinary households too.
One underestimated risk is that greater efficiency encourages greater consumption, cancelling some of the savings.
“We therefore need to ask a simple question: does this technology reduce our overall environmental footprint while improving people’s lives?”
The Paper: The expansion of economic activity often outpaces improvements in circular efficiency. From the perspective of institutional design, what arrangements can help break this paradox? China’s 15th Five-Year Plan identifies the circular economy as a priority. In which areas are breakthrough innovations most urgently needed?
Achim Steiner: We have become better at producing more with less. But if the total volume of production grows faster than the savings, environmental pressures continue to rise. That is why a circular economy must reach beyond recycling.
Think of an appliance that is expensive to repair but cheap to replace. The consumer’s decision is understandable, yet the system encourages waste. Changing that requires better product design, accessible repair services, spare parts and responsibility for products after they have been sold.
In China, I would particularly emphasise construction, batteries and electronics. Decisions made today will determine whether enormous quantities of materials become future waste or remain valuable resources.
The breakthroughs we need are commercial and institutional as well as technological. Reused materials need reliable quality standards, and businesses need incentives to keep products in use longer. A successful circular economy makes preserving value profitable and convenient.
Multilateral Cooperation Requires Continuity; Climate Action Must Respond to People’s Real Concerns
The Paper: At a time when the United Nations General Assembly is convening and the selection of the next UN Secretary-General is underway, global governance is facing growing fragmentation and a resurgence of unilateralism. From an institutional theory perspective, what are the most irreplaceable functions of multilateral environmental and development institutions? What lessons does CCICED’s “policy recommendations–pilot programs–broader application” model offer for innovation in multilateral governance?
Achim Steiner: The most irreplaceable function of multilateral institutions is to keep countries working together on problems none can solve alone, including when they disagree on many other matters.
During my years at UNEP and UNDP, I repeatedly saw the value of a shared scientific foundation, a place to negotiate and practical support for implementation. These institutions also give countries with less economic or political power a voice in decisions that affect their future. That is essential to the legitimacy of international cooperation.
CCICED offers an important lesson: international dialogue becomes more valuable when it connects to real policy choices. Bringing Chinese and international expertise together, testing ideas and learning from implementation creates a productive relationship between knowledge and action.
The wider lesson is that cooperation needs continuity. A meeting can open a door, but sustained relationships, honest evaluation and follow through are what turn an agreement into progress.
The Paper: There is a significant “knowing–doing gap” between the urgency of the climate crisis and the slow implementation of policies. What are the main bottlenecks to bridging this gap?
Achim Steiner: The gap between knowing and doing is often a gap between what we say we want and what our institutions actually reward.
A government may commit to climate action while its budgets still favour yesterday’s infrastructure. A company may want to invest in clean technology but face uncertain rules or expensive finance. A household may support environmental protection but have no affordable alternative available.
We should also recognise that transitions create anxiety. People ask legitimate questions: Will my job disappear? Will my bills rise? Will my community be left behind? Climate policy must answer those questions.
The task is to make the better choice practical and affordable, while holding institutions accountable for delivery. Journalism has an important role here. A channel such as The Paper · Earth Channel can connect climate change with everyday experience, explain solutions and examine whether promises are producing results. Public understanding and public agency are powerful drivers of change.
CCICED Should Take a Long-Term View: How Should We Understand “Security” in an Interconnected World of Risks?
The Paper: CCICED has witnessed the transformation of China’s role. With the 2030 deadline for the Sustainable Development Goals approaching, the period covered by China’s 15th Five-Year Plan will substantially overlap with the remaining timeframe for achieving the SDGs. What unique functions should CCICED prioritize over the next five years? What recommendations would you offer?
Achim Steiner: Since its establishment in 1992, CCICED has provided a space for China and the international community to learn together. As China’s role has evolved, that exchange has become increasingly valuable in both directions.
Over the next five years, I would suggest that CCICED focus more closely on the difficult choices involved in implementation. How can the green transition improve livelihoods across different regions? How can climate action, biodiversity protection and economic policy reinforce one another? Where are policies working, and where do they need to change?
It should also look further ahead. Climate pressures, technological change and economic uncertainty increasingly interact, with consequences for people’s livelihoods and security. This is prompting a wider discussion about how we understand security in a world of interconnected risks. At the Security Futures Lab, which I now lead at the University of Oxford, we are exploring these connections with partners across five continents. For CCICED, this perspective can help show how green development strengthens resilience and prevents tomorrow’s crises.
Finally, CCICED can strengthen cooperation with developing countries through shared research and practical partnerships. China has much experience to contribute, and much to learn from others. With 2030 approaching, the priority must be to turn that exchange into faster progress that people can see and feel.