This week, experts from the Center for Global Sustainability (CGS) at the University of Maryland participated in the U.S.-China High-Level Event on Subnational Climate Action, hosted by the California-China Climate Institute. CGS representatives included CGS Founder and Director Nate Hultman, PhD; Research Director Ryna Cui, PhD; and Assistant Research Professor Mengye Zhu, PhD. CGS served as a core Supporting Partner for the meeting.
The United States and China announced the event last year as part of the Sunnylands Statement on Enhancing Cooperation to Address the Climate Crisis. CGS’s China Program provides research-based insights that support collaboration and improved climate outcomes for both countries. This event marks a significant step forward in the U.S.-China collaboration to advance clean energy research and policymaking, mitigate air pollution and carbon emissions, and support low-carbon sustainable development goals for carbon neutrality.
Last week’s event featured exchanges across several areas of opportunity for U.S.-China climate cooperation, including greenhouse gas and air pollution reduction strategies; clean energy development; carbon capture, utilization, and storage; city- and state-led climate initiatives; adaptation and resilience; green infrastructure and urban nature-based solutions; the circular economy; inclusive transition; and green shipping.
“As the two largest economies and biggest greenhouse gas emitters in the world, the United States U.S. and China have an outsized role to play in reaching our global climate goals. This week’s convening builds on both countries’ shared urgency for immediate and ambitious climate action,” said Nate Hultman, Director of the Center for Global Sustainability. “Our research and this week’s discussions make clear that subnational organizations across the United States U.S. and China are ripe for climate collaboration and eager to share knowledge and jointly tackle our most pressing issues, including rapidly reducing emissions in the power sector, implementing strategies to reduce methane, and transitioning to an electric vehicle fleet.”
“I was pleased to attend this important convening as the U.S. and China continue to identify ways to partner together on reducing emissions,” said Dr. Ryna Cui, Research Director at the Center for Global Sustainability. “Policy innovation in the United States U.S. often happens from the bottom up, where leading cities and states first introduce policies and build a foundation of demonstrated success for the Federal government to build on. In China, similarly, pilot programs also start in provinces and cities before scaling up nationwide. These are great opportunities for subnational collaboration to share knowledge and experiences on different policy instruments, innovations, and integrated solutions that amplify social-economic benefits and address impacts to advance the overall energy transition.”
“Our research on methane mitigation strategies the United States U.S. and China could collaborate on shows that accurately monitoring and verifying methane emissions will require integration of top-down approaches, like satellites and drones, and bottom-up approaches at the landfill level,” said Dr. Mengye Zhu, Associate Research Professor at the Center for Global Sustainability. “Yet financing bottom-up solutions is a major concern for local governments, where budgets and technical resources are tight. It was encouraging to hear from both experts in both countries, and I look forward to further discussion on how to effectively move resources to eliminate waste methane.”
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