The Asia Society and the Pew Center on Global Climate Change recommend immediate action to create a new, groundbreaking collaboration with China to address climate change. Their new report Common Challenge, Collaborative Response: A Roadmap for US-China Cooperation on Energy and Climate Change is the product of more than 50 expert contributors, including Dr. Henry Kissinger, Dr. Steven Chu (now U.S. Energy Secretary), and Larry Brilliant, Director, Google.org, as well as leading experts from China.
According to the Eileen Claussen, President of the Pew Center for Climate Change, ”closer cooperation with China should be a high priority in a U.S. climate strategy. Working together, the United States and China can advance key technologies and provide a stronger foundation for an effective global climate effort.” The report argues that scaling-up US-China cooperation on efforts to avert climate change will strengthen prospects for U.S. domestic legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and a new international treaty on climate change under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
The report outlines a few priorities:
- Development and deployment of technologies for the continued use of coal for production of electricity. “Continuing to rely heavily on coal, as both countries are likely to do, will necessitate large-scale investments in research, pilot projects, and deployment of new technologies to capture and sequester the resulting carbon emissions.” The report recommends, “an ultimate goal in both countries must be the commercialization and widespread deployment of carbon capture-and-storage technology. As a critical first step, experts recommend that 10 to 15 large-scale demonstration projects be developed in a variety of settings around the world over the next decade.”
- Increased collaboration to enhance energy efficiency and to deploy renewable energy technologies. “The broader deployment of solar, wind, and other renewable sources, and expanded development of renewable energy technologies, would help both countries decarbonize their electricity systems and expand their low-carbon economies.” As an additional benefit, “the global position of both the United States and China as leading wind and solar power technology manufacturers means that scaling-up these technologies could also support major expansion of these domestic industries.”
- Developing innovative finance mechanisms. “Both governments must commit greater public resources and do so in ways that effectively leverage private investment in a clean energy future.” This will require innovative finance mechanisms and developing new models for licensing low-carbon technologies that can make them broadly available while protecting commercial interests
Read the report in English or Mandarin
