Trump thinks climate change threat is a hoax but China plans to revive green bond market

Busy with slapping nations with tariffs left, right and centre; US President Donald Trump seems to have got no time for climate change.

In the first month of his second term, President Trump wasted no time making his climate stance crystal clear. He pulled the US out of the Paris Agreement (again), slashed funding for green initiatives, let go of staff from climate-focused agencies, and went after programmes aimed at tackling environmental issues. The result?

A green light for Republican leaders to double down on attacking climate-related investments, especially those tied to cutting emissions or pushing for cleaner energy.

China doubles down on green energy transition

But China, on the other hand, is doubling down on green energy transition, a move welcomed by experts.

The world’s second-largest economy has issued its debut sovereign green bond. Green bonds are essentially the finance world’s most efficient and popular source of funding to boost green infrastructure around the world. They have become immensely popular in recent years. To put the numbers into perspective, a total of $700 billion was raised in green bonds last year, up from $41 billion in 2014.

China now plans to raise $830 million in funding from its inaugural issuance of green bonds, a move hailed as “positive” by experts.

“This is a positive move by China. A clear signal to the market that China intends to stay committed to the green transition agenda despite the US backtracking,” Bloomberg quoted Rose Choy, Research director for Asia Pacific at the nonprofit Anthropocene Fixed Income Institute, as saying.

But the green bonds seem to be losing steam now.

Green bond issuances from emerging markets (excluding China) have taken a hit in 2025, dropping by about a third to just $8 billion — the slowest start since 2022. It’s a sharp slowdown that mirrors growing global uncertainty around climate investments.

That said, there’s one bright spot: Asia-Pacific. It’s the only region where green bond issuance actually grew, up roughly 23 per cent compared to last year. But let’s be real — most of that momentum came from China, which continues to dominate the region’s green finance game.

Jameson McLennan, a research analyst at BloombergNEF, said the global retreat from green bonds “is likely a result of the increased macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty issuers are facing, with persistently high interest rates, rising protectionism and the threat of potential trade wars.”

China’s ambitious green plans

Shanghai is betting big on the future—literally lighting a fire under one of China’s boldest scientific ventures.

A 10 billion-yuan ($1.4 billion) fund set up by the Shanghai government is making its first move, and it’s a moonshot: investing in China Fusion Corp., a state-backed company trying to crack the code on nuclear fusion.

Fusion, often dubbed the “holy grail” of clean energy, promises virtually limitless power—if anyone can actually make it work. The fund, known as the Shanghai Future Industry Fund, didn’t reveal how much cash it’s throwing in, but the signal is clear: China wants to be a serious player in the race for fusion energy.