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China’s ecological civilization concept claims a new, Chinese model of promoting economic growth while reducing environmental pollution at the same time. This dissertation uses interdisciplinary methods to analyze two of China’s flagship ecological civilization policies, the national carbon market and the Belt and Road Initiative. While the national carbon market exemplifies China’s changing approach to domestic environmental policy, the Belt and Road Initiative is carrying the Chinese model of ecological civilization overseas. The first part of this dissertation focuses on China’s national carbon market. I use a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model to assess the interactions between a national carbon market and China’s ongoing structural economic transition, thereby yielding macro-scale evidence and policy suggestions for how China can fulfill ecological civilization goals of increasing GDP while reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Next, I investigate the carbon market from a qualitative perspective, assessing how emissions accounting is used as a foundation for policy-making. I also explore the capacity building community that sustains the carbon market, asking broader questions about how Chinese neoliberalism informs the formation of the national carbon market. The second part of this dissertation focuses on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), situating it in the context of leakage, or relocation of production in response to environmental regulation. Through a novel empirical study, I test the assumption that BRI projects may be better or worse for the environment than other sources of finance. I then explore potential mechanisms of Chinese overseas finance exceptionalism, informing ongoing policy and advocacy debates about how to engage with the growing scale of China’s overseas investment.

Eco-cities have attracted international attention from governments, corporations, academics and other actors seeking to use sustainable urban planning to reduce urban environmental impacts. China has devoted significant political will and economic resources to the development of new-build eco-city projects, reflecting the Chinese government's goals to build a 'harmonious society' in which environmental sustainability and social stability are mutually reinforcing. We critically analyse the case of the Sino-Singapore Tianjin eco-city to demonstrate that the eco-city's ecologically modernizing visions of eco-urbanism construct a protective environment for its residents that constrains broader consideration of social sustainability. Through analysis of the marketing and presentation of specific domestic and other spaces of the eco-city, we examine the application of ecologically modernizing construction and technology to the design of the city. We argue that the eco-city is discursively constructed as ecologically beneficial for its inhabitants rather than for the broader socio-environmental landscape. Our analysis of residential spaces in Tianjin eco-city introduces the question of what 'eco' means when considering the construction of eco-urban environments for the city's residents.