A significant share of China’s greenhouse gas emitting activities is operated by state owned enterprises (SOEs) in power generation and steel production. The report demonstrates that SOEs have played a significant role in mitigation actions in these two sectors. As a wider mitigation-relevant task, the state-owned enterprises have led the modernisation of the steel industry to enable better-quality products aiming at supporting the development of new high-tech sectors, like renewable energy. As for China's international climate position, state-owned enterprises should be recognised as important domestic stakeholders. They implement a range of policies and measures, which are in turn needed to enable targets and pledges. Even though China's international climate position depends on the political choices of the central bureaucracy, state-owned enterprises are important also beyond their facilitating role, due to their influential position in domestic policy choices.