Sino-Europe Conference on Post-Copenhagen Prospects for Global Climate Policy Successfully Held
On March 27, 2010, a joint conference on Sino-European climate change policy was successfully held in Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management.
This senior-level event was jointly organized by the Center for China in the World Economy (CCWE) of Tsinghua University and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), with CCWE acting as host. The German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) acted as the German governmental partner, and contributed to the funding. The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH co-organized the event.
The one-day conference was led by keynote speeches, followed immediately by three interrelated sessions (respectively, Managing the Transition towards a Low-carbon Economy, Climate Policy and Economic Development, and Post-Copenhagen: The Road Ahead and the Prospects for Sino-European Cooperation) on a number of important and critical topics and issues.
The keynote addresses took stock of the UNFCCC process and summarized critical concerns and controversies of the Copenhagen Conference of the Parties. YANG Zejun, Director, Office of the CPC Finance Leading Group, Michael Schaefer, German Ambassador to China, Lord Nicholas Stern, Chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change at the London School of Economics, PAN Jiahua, Director, CASS Climate Research Institute, Member of the Expert Committee of the China National Climate Policy, and Serge Abou, Ambassador and Head of the Delegation of the European Commission to China and Mongolia, made the keynote speeches.
The Chinese and European experts, scholars, and policymakers presented, exchanged, and shared their analysis, views, and policy recommendations. They included Ottmar Edenhofer, Deputy Director, PIK, Co-chair of Working Group III, IPCC, LI Junfeng, Deputy Director, NDRC Energy Program, Massimo Tavoni, FEEM senior fellow, HU Angang, Director, Tsinghua-CAS China Studies Center, ZHANG Shiqiu, Associate Dean, School of Environment, PKU, Dirk Messner, Director, DIE, Vice-Chair of the German Advisory Council on Global Change, Mattia Romani, LSE, Senior Fellow, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change, and JIA Feng, Vice Director General, Ministry of Environment Protection
They addressed the most critical issues and debated the outcomes of Copenhagen and their implications for China and the European Union with respect to climate change impacts, mitigation efforts, as well as international policy options. Next steps for China and the EU in the context of desirable research projects and key issues in the policy-making process ahead were discussed.
The conference ended with a banquet where ZHENG Xinli, former Deputy Director, CPC Central Committee Research Office and Executive Vice Chairman of the China Center for International Economic Exchange, CCIEE, gave a speech on how Global climate change may impact China’s economic development. The speaker addressed critical issues in the Chinese economy and challenges China faces in terms of global climate change.
