China’s changing role in global environmental governance – laggard or leader?

China is a major contributor to international environmental challenges and is therefore pivotal in global efforts aimed at solving or reducing these problems. To improve our knowledge of China’s problem-solving will and ability, it is paramount to identify domestic and external conditions for China’s behaviour in different types of international environmental agreements. There are many studies of Chinese (domestic) environmental policies, and research on China’s growing global role in energy, climate change, environment and global governance. Yet, few studies account for China’s behaviour across different environmental issue areas, or indeed, produce knowledge about the links between its domestic policies and external conditions for its international role. The research questions is: What role does China play in international environmental cooperation on climate change, biodiversity and mercury: leader, laggard or pusher? The paper will account for China’s behaviour in three key areas of global environmental governance: Climate change, loss of biodiversity and chemical pollution. The main criterion for selecting these environmental challenges is that China is an important driver and cause for each of them.