Workshop Introduction
Since 2014, NRDC has been working with partners such as the Chinese Society for Environmental Sciences and Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning to hold the international workshop to promote energy transition. The workshop brings together representatives from Chinese and international government departments, research institutes, enterprises, and NGOs to share their experiences and strategies on energy transition, and put forth forward-looking policy recommendations.
Previous Workshop Themes
Energy transition at the national, provincial, sectoral and enterprise levels
Coordinated reduction of coal consumption, pollution, and carbon emissions
International experience in energy transition
Transition finance
Promoting global green governance
Speaker Quotes
António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations: A sustainable recovery should speed the transition from fossil fuels, especially coal and oil; aim to create decent green jobs; promote the elimination of subsidies to fossil fuels; and stop building new coal power plants.
Xu Huaqing, Director, National Center for Climate Change Strategy and International Cooperation (NCSC): To ensure China peaks carbon emissions by 2030, we should deploy more rigorous policies on controlling coal consumption during the 14th FYP period, including greatly promoting a switch from coal heating to electric heating, re-reviewing approved coal power and coal chemicals projects, and strictly controlling the development scale of coal power and coal chemicals.
Wu Yin, Former Deputy Director, National Energy Administration: work on capping coal in China should include reducing coal consumption, increasing the efficiency of coal consumption, banning dispersed coal use, and focusing on reducing carbon emissions and non-coal development. Besides, the ultimate goal is not capping coal, but reducing pollution and carbon emissions. We should find a way to make use of the carbon when using coal.
Du Xiangwan, Former Vice President and Academician, Chinese Academy of Engineering: low-carbon transition and energy security do not go against each other. Rich renewable energy is an important part of China’s resource endowment. The utilization of renewable energy can support energy system independence and security.
Wang Jinnan, Academician at Chinese Academy of Engineering and Director at Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning (CAEP), Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE): because of the reduction of coal consumption, urban PM2.5 concentrations have decreased about 50% in the past ten years and other air pollution indicators have also declined significantly, including sulfur dioxide concentrations, carbon intensity per GDP, and the number of days of heavy pollution. This shows that the synergized reduction of coal consumption, pollution and carbon emissions is reasonable from a scientific point of view.
Workshop Photos
António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, delivering a video speech
Group photo of guests at the international workshop
Zhang Jieqing, NRDC China Country Director, hosting a panel discussion
Guest speakers at the 2022 international workshop. Upper left: Jiang Zhaoli, Deputy Director of Climate Change Department at Ministry of Ecology and Environment. Lower left: Wang Jinnan, Academician, Chinese Academy of Engineering; President, Chinese Society for Environmental Sciences (CSES); Director, Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning (CAEP). Upper right: Du Xiangwan, Academician and Former Vice President, Chinese Academy of Engineering. Lower right: Jiang Yi, Academician, Chinese Academy of Engineering; Director, Building Energy Efficiency Research Center of Tsinghua University (THUBERC)
