China’s party congress in Beijing will likely take place under crisp, blue skies — a symbol of President Xi Jinping’s environmental stewardship that is being tested by darkening economic clouds and political strife around the world.
More than any other leader of the Chinese Communist Party, Xi has sought to make the environment part of his lasting legacy. He’s dramatically cut the air pollution that plagued urban residents when he took over in 2012, overseen the development of a world-leading clean energy industry, and made perhaps the most important climate commitment in history in 2020 when he set a target for net-zero emissions within four decades.