China is rapidly expanding its capacity to generate electricity from wind and solar. It has publicly pledged to stop financing the construction of overseas coal-powered plants. It promises to become carbon-neutral by 2060. At the same time, Chinese economic growth has increased its overall demand for energy. It remains the largest consumer of coal in the world, and it is now also the leading emitter of carbon.

Given the size of its economy and its population, China can’t help but determine the nature and pace of the global transition to a clean energy future. What are the prospects for U.S.-China cooperation on climate and energy issues, what has been the impact of the war in Ukraine on Chinese policy, and is China’s Belt and Road Initiative a help or a hindrance when it comes to a global just transition?

Several experts on Chinese energy and environment will answer these questions and more in this lively conversation

• LIU Hongqiao is a Paris-based independent consultant and journalist. Her primary work focus is China’s emergence and its global impact on the environment, biodiversity, energy, and the climate. She is winner of the China Environmental Press Award, has published in numerous outlets in China and globally, and given this TED talk on China’s climate agenda.
• Jennifer Turner has served as Director of the Wilson Center’s China Environment Forum for 23 years convening NGOs, research, government and business experts to explore China’s energy and environmental challenges. She is a widely quoted expert on U.S.-China environmental cooperation as well as climate-related challenges and governance issues facing the world’s most populous country.

The session will be facilitated by Tobita Chow, the founding Director of Justice Is Global, a special project of People’s Action. He is an organizer, a political educator, and a leading progressive strategist and critic regarding the US–China relationship and the rise of Sinophobia in the U.S.

PLEASE REGISTER.

It is co-sponsored with the China Environment Forum of the Wilson Center.