As the United States steps away from global climate leadership, China is stepping up. EDF has been working there for more than 25 years, and now we’re helping the Chinese government launch a national system to control climate pollution.
A giant leap forward
Fortunately, China is serious about climate action. The nation of 1.4 billion – the world’s most populous and No. 1 greenhouse gas emitter – took a giant leap forward and launched its national carbon market in December 2017.
The national carbon market reflects experiences and lessons learned from a series of pilot projects that EDF helped design, using a proven market-based solution to tackle global warming at a critical time.
EDF’s long history with China
Over the past two decades, EDF Vice President Dan Dudek, EDF China Chief Representative Jianyu Zhang and their team have helped China establish a variety of market-based incentives to trim emissions and strengthen enforcement of environmental laws.
These projects are part of the reason that EDF has served as an advisor on China’s highest international advisory body on the environment, which reports directly to the Premier every year.
Successes we’ve helped with
-3,600 government and industrial stakeholders trained on carbon emissions trading
-43,000 environmental officers trained to date
-1 million tons of greenhouse gases verifiably reduced via low-carbon farming
An urgent opportunity
The nation is still rapidly transitioning from rural to urban. In 15 years, about 250 million more people will likely move to cities and use twice as much energy than in the countryside.
The government has asked for our input on new environmental policies and programs in their next five-year plan. We’re ready to help with many projects, including:
-Operating an effective national carbon trading program
-Expanding the use of renewable energy
-Strengthening environmental enforcement
-Improving energy efficiency in major sectors
-Enhancing energy modeling and analysis capacity to inform policy making
