As UN Climate Summit opens, experts from China and U.S. discuss climate pollution

(New York – September 24, 2014) As the United Nations Climate Summit convened yesterday in New York City, government officials, corporate leaders and policy experts from China met with environmental leaders and state-level policy staffers from the United States for discussions about reducing climate pollution.

The China-U.S. Climate Dialogue was held at the New York offices of Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). The talks were aimed at promoting cooperation between the two countries to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change, especially from the power sector. 

“There is enormous opportunity for the world’s two largest emitters to work together right now to reduce the risk of climate change,” said Fred Krupp,  president of EDF. “Both nations and the entire world have a great deal  to gain from a strong China-U.S. agreement on climate change, and I am hopeful  that Presidents Obama and Xi will take strong steps together when they meet in November.”

President Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping are scheduled to meet November 12^th in Beijing. Climate change is one of the most consequential issues they’re expected to discuss. 

Both countries have made reducing climate pollution a priority. At their last Presidential Summit, the two heads of state announced they would cooperate to reduce the potent greenhouse gases known as HFC’s. China has also established seven carbon trading pilot programs, covering more than 2,000 individual sources and 1.25 billion tons of carbon dioxide in areas where 250 million people live. The Obama Administration has proposed the Clean Power Plan, which would set the first-ever national limits on carbon pollution from power plants.

A Chinese government official at yesterday’s meeting said that China’s new National Climate Plan (2014 – 2020) will consider using a carbon market to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector. Participants agreed that the U.S. and China have an opportunity to share experiences and jointly chart a path forward in capping emissions. The U.S. Clean Power Plan could be the highlight of U.S. and China cooperation on how to regulate the power sector, especially in a Chinese context. 

The China-U.S. meeting in EDF’s offices included representatives from China’s National Development and Reform Commission, Shenzhen’s Development and Reform Commission (the leading carbon trading pilot), Peking University, China South Low Carbon Academy, the Shenzhen Low Carbon Development Foundation, the China Low Carbon Alliance, State Grid Corporation, BYD Motors, SinoCarbon, as well as leaders from EDF and the U.S. Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a cooperative effort among nine northeastern and mid-Atlantic states to cap and reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the power sector.

The discussion included China’s National Climate Plan (2014 – 2020), which was issued by the State Council on September 19^th and features both regionally differentiated targets and separate sectoral plans. On the U.S. side, RGGI’s recent decision to lower its carbon dioxide emissions cap by 50 percent was seen as an excellent example of multi-jurisdictional cooperation useful to both the US and China. The EPA Clean Power Plan was outlined along with the present timeline for implementation. EPA’s assessment of building blocks for the plan was a backdrop for discussion of the outlook for the power sector in China. There was wide consensus that cooperation between the two countries could accelerate the pace of reductions from the power sector and inspire more ambitious commitments to climate protection. 

The China-US group is expected to continue discussions in the coming weeks. The next meeting is planned for early October in Beijing.