China and US Sign MOU on Low-Carbon Development

GUANGZHOU (Apr. 16, 2013) – The Consulate General of the United States in Guangzhou and other stakeholders, representatives from the Guangdong Provincial Government, and the State Government of California signed a “Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Low-Carbon Development Cooperation Between Guangdong and California” in mid-April 2013.

CCS and GEI representatives with diplomats from the US and Chinese parties – GEI 2013

As part of the first phase of cooperation between the two parties, GEI, CCS and the Consulate General of the US in Guangzhou supported the Guangdong Development and Reform Commission (DRC) and the Guangdong Provincial Department of Energy in holding a “Guangdong-California Low-Carbon Development Dialogue.”

This follows extensive work between the Chinese environmental NGO, the Global Environmental Institute (GEI) and the US think tank, Center for Climate Strategies (CCS). GEI’s Executive Director, Jin Jiaman, was present as a witness during the signing ceremony of the MOU. 

During the dialogue, the Director of the Guangdong Provincial Department of Energy gave an overview of the energy development context in Guangdong, including provincial level work for developing clean energy (i.e. carbon trade development). Director Zhang highlighted potential cooperative project activities on low-carbon economy, clean energy development, developing carbon trade mechanism, and green construction etc.

The Director of the California Environmental Protection Agency (CEPA) and the Chairman of the California Energy Commission overviewed policy measures taken by California to reduce green house gas emissions, such as implementing low-carbon fuel standards and increasing efficiency, developing renewable energy sources and clean fossil fuel technology.

As a partner institution, GEI Executive Director gave a presentation highlighting GEI’s work with CCS on promoting China-US cooperation on low-carbon development planning, and what that work means for projects in Guangdong on low-carbon development and international cooperation on climate change.

Representatives from the Guangdong Research for Institute International Strategies, the Center for Low Carbon and Sustainable Development Research at Jinan University, the US-Based Energy Foundation and CCS also gave presentations on a variety of topics related to low-carbon development cooperation between China and the US. Partner institutions from both the US and China expressed hope to scale up cooperation on investment development for renewable energy and energy efficient technologies.

At the conclusion of the dialogue, the Deputy Director of the Guangdong DRC, Lu Xiulu, highlighted the opportunity presented by the cooperative arrangement between Guangdong and California and all partner institutions, as a unique opportunity to promote long-term communication and coordinated work on low-carbon technology, carbon trade mechanisms, low-carbon development policy, and related standards and regulations.

In addition to the above-mentioned participants, other representatives from the Chinese side included representatives from the Guangdong DRC Office of Climate, several officers from the Guangdong DRC Offices of Transportation and, Advanced Technology, and experts from the Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion (GIEC) at the Chinese Academy of Science. Corporate Executives from the Guangdong Yudean Group Co. Ltd and China Southern Power Grid also attended the event.

CEPA Director, Matthew Rodriquez and the Chairman of the California Energy Commission Bob Weisenmiller led participants from the US side. The US participants also included the Chairman of the California Highway Commission, Dan Richards, and the Chief Executive Officer of the California Air Quality Management Commission.

The signing of the “MOU on Low-Carbon Development Cooperation Between the provincial and state government of Guangdong and California” is a major outcome of the GEI project on China-US Cooperation: Low-Carbon Planning and Efficiency. Based on the collaboration between China and the US on both national and sub-national levels, the project aims to explore the pragmatic cooperation between China’s provinces and US states, to promote information exchange and share experience on low-carbon planning to achieve significant reductions in GHG emissions.