Though the United States is planning to leave the landmark Paris climate agreement, the door for Sino-US climate cooperation remains open, said Kevin Rudd, the former Australian prime minister.

BEIJING, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- China is on fast track in its transition to a green economy as the country is taking concrete and innovative steps to that end, according to an environmental expert.

China's efforts to combat climate change have yielded fruitful results and its leadership will be vital in the future as countries join hands to tackle the urgent problem, government officials and industry leaders said on Wednesday.

Eric Heitz, CEO of the Energy Foundation, said China's launch of a carbon market is a milestone that will help tackle pollution and climate change and suggested that in the future, more sectors should be covered in addition to power generation.

In late April, 2020, Beijing Municipal Ecology and Environment Bureau and Energy Foundation China (EF China) reviewed their cooperation in 2019 and kicked off new research programs for 2020, with attendees including Chen Tian, bureau chief; Li Xiaohua, deputy bureau chief; and Zou Ji, CEO and President of EF China.

In late March 2020, Energy Foundation China, Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, the Institutes of Science and Development of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, European Climate Foundation, Third Generation Environmentalism (E3G) and the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED) Secretariat organized an online expert meeting for the council’s Special Policy Study (SPS) on global climate governance and China’s role. More than 70 economics and climate experts from China, the UK, and European countries discussed what the current global responses to the Covid-19 pandemic and economic downturn are, how to shape a new growth story through green stimulus packages, and how to coordinate a low carbon stimulus with China’s near-, medium-, and long-term plans to promote high-quality development and modernization.

Cole Wilbur, co-author of Giving With Confidence: A Guide to Savvy Philanthropy, is a veteran grantmaker for philanthropic organizations. During his 23 years at the helm of The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, he helped grow the organization “from a small, obscure West Coast foundation to one of the 10 largest foundations in the United States”

On March 26th of 2020, organized by Energy Foundation China (EF China) and Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), International Technical Supporting Platform for City Emission Peaking (ISP-CEP) held the first online workshop of “Promoting Individual Low-carbon Consumption”. Representatives and experts from China National Textile and Apparel Council, Didi, Meituan-Dianping, Carbonstop, ClimateWorks Foundation and 11 members organization of ISP-CEP jointly attended the workshop.

In January 2020, a 2050 clean air project led by Professor Zhang Qiang from Tsinghua University and supported by Energy Foundation China convened its final expert workshop in Beijing. This project aimed to propose medium- and long-term air quality goals for China and explore the strategy and pathway for the co-control of air quality and climate change issues.

In September, Energy Foundation China and grantee the Chinese Academy for Environmental Planning (CAEP) held a seminar on the air pollution prevention and control in the greater Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (or Jing-Jin-Ji) region and the Fenhe-Weihe plains, areas that have suffered suffocating smog in China.

In September 2020, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to peak China’s carbon emissions “before 2030” and archive carbon neutrality “before 2060” in his speech to the United Nations General Assembly.

With support from Energy Foundation China, the China State Construction Academy completed the research in 2019. After analyzing energy consumption patterns of public and residential buildings in Qingdao, Shandong Province, researchers developed a roadmap to support the city achieving green development and carbon peaking in the buildings sector. The research can also be helpful for other northern cities in China when they plan how to peak carbon emissions related to buildings.

With support from Energy Foundation China, this research was conducted in 2019 by the Center of Science and Technology and Industrialization Development, a think tank for China’s Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development. Based on the current practice of green finance for energy conservation and green buildings, the research team analyzed financing behavior of the buildings sector, including how financial instruments had been used, before they proposed recommendations for enhanced green finance in the sector. The report can be helpful for future research on the synergy of green finance and buildings.

With support from Energy Foundation China, the Shenzhen Emissions Exchange released this research report in February 2020 to provide tailor-made policy recommendations for the city’s green growth and finance. The report analyzed the core elements and key process of establishing a green enterprises pool, especially screening criteria and evaluation methodology of eligible green enterprises, based on existing green evaluation standards in China and abroad. Taking into consideration of green development plans and industrial characteristics in Shenzhen, the research also put forward how to define green enterprises and choose screening criteria and methodologies, before it suggested how to establish and implement a green enterprises pool for Shenzhen, a metropolis of 12 million people in South China.