Newsom to embark on climate-focused trip to China

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) will travel next week to China, where he plans to explore potential climate partnerships and visit five different regions — with stops ranging from Hong Kong to Tesla’s factory in Shanghai.

During his weeklong trip, Newsom will meet with key officials and business executives to promote climate action, strengthen economic development and encourage cultural exchange between the U.S. and China — with the goal of combating xenophobia, according to the governor’s office.

“California and China hold the keys to solving the climate crisis,” Newsom said in a statement. “As two of the world’s largest economies, our partnership is essential to delivering climate action for our communities and beyond.”

Newsom declared his intentions last month to travel to China, emphasizing the importance of maintaining a relationship on climate.

The economies of China and California — the second and fifth largest in the world — have been connected since the Golden State’s establishment, the governor’s office stressed in a press release confirming the travels. 

About 32 percent of Chinese immigrants to the U.S. live in California, and a significant percentage of Californians can trace their roots to China, the announcement noted. 

The Golden State, according to the governor’s office, strives for “healthy economic competition with China, especially as we work together to transition to low-carbon economies.”

Newsom and his accompanying delegation will begin their trip in Hong Kong, where the governor will engage in a fireside chat with Hong Kong University leadership. The conversation will revolve around shared efforts to combat climate change while working toward robust economic growth, per the trip details. 

The group will then move on to the Guangdong province — meeting with regional leaders and businesses who have transformed industrial cities into hubs for electric vehicles (EVs) and electric public transit. 

The Guangdong city of, home to 13 million residents, was the first in the world to transition to an all-electric bus fleet in 2018, the governor’s office noted. With that in mind, the delegation is planning to explore how the region accelerated and incentivized this transition. 

While in Guangdong, Newsom is expected to sign a memorandum of understanding to build upon an existing climate partnership between the province and California. 

At his next stop in Beijing, the governor will meet with several high-level national and local officials to sign other climate memoranda, as well as discuss subjects such as methane, clean energy adoption, economic growth and the fight against xenophobia. 

In Jiangsu, Newsom will visit an offshore wind facility to learn about the techniques China has employed to become the world’s biggest generator of wind, according to the trip details. 

For its part, California has set goals of building 2–5 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity by 2030 and 25 gigawatts by 2045.

The governor intends to sign another climate-focused memorandum with Jiangsu before departing for Shanghai via high-speed rail, his office stated. 

Upon arrival in the financial and business hub of Shanghai, the governor plans to sign his fifth memorandum of the trip with local and subnational leadership, as well as tour Tesla’s Shanghai gigafactory. In September, the factory announced it had produced 2 million electric vehicles, making it the most prolific EV factory in the world, the governor’s office added. 

Ahead of next week’s trip, Newsom touted existing California-China collaborations that focus on “cleaning the air, accelerating the transition to electric vehicles, protecting people from extreme weather and conserving lands and oceans.”

Both places, an accompanying fact sheet stressed, sit on the front lines of the climate crisis — enduring wildfires, floods, drought and extreme weather. 

“Our decades-long work together proves what we can accomplish together,” the governor said.