On 11 December, COSC and the World Resources Institute (WRI) held an online meeting on the US presidential election and its impact on the US domestic and foreign polices in the fields of climate change and energy, the latest developments in China’s climate goals, and China’s climate change policy in the 14th five-year-plan period.

Mr. Sun Weijia, Director General of the International Exchanges and Cooperation Department of COSC and Manish Bapna, Executive Vice President and Managing Director of WRI, addressed the meeting on behalf of the two sides. Other speakers included Liu Yanhua, former Counselor of the State Council and Chairman of National Experts Panel on Climate Change, and He Jiankun, Research Fellow of the COSC and Vice Chairman of National Experts Panel on Climate Change.

Mr. Sun noted China’s persistent efforts and achievements in coping with climate change and reiterated the commitment made by Chinese President Xi Jinping at the 75th UN General Assembly on 22 September of scaling up China’s Intended Nationally Determined Contributions by adopting more vigorous policies and measures, having CO2 emissions peak before 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality before 2060. Welcoming the US President-elect Joe Biden’s decision to make climate change one of his top four priorities, he believed this showed the incoming US administration placed great importance on the issue and urged the new administration to take real actions to honor its responsibilities and support the global endeavor.

Among the Chinese participants were Zhou Dadi, Member of National Experts Panel on Climate Change, Zhang Xiliang, Director of Institute of Energy, Environment and Economy of Tsinghua University, Xu Huaqing, Director General of National Center for Climate Changes Strategy and International Cooperation of Ministry of Ecology and Environment, and Teng Fei, Deputy Director, Institute of Energy Environment and Economy, Tsinghua University. On the US side, Gregory Gershuny, Executive Director of Energy and Environment Program of the Aspen Institute, Kate Gordon, Director of State of California Governor’s Office of Planning and Research, Andrew Light, Distinguished Senior Fellow of WRI, David Sandalow, former senior official of White House, State Department and U.S. Department of Energy, and Pete Ogden, Vice President of Energy, Climate and the Environment of United Nations Foundation, took part in the meeting.

From 2017 to June 2020, COSC held four China -US high-level think tank Dialogues on energy and climate change in partnership with the WRI. It is a useful platform for the exchange of ideas, adding momentum to domestic policy actions, and promoting cooperation between businesses and research institutes of the two countries. This online meeting is a special session in the aftermath of the US general election on the basis of the regular dialogue mechanism for the two sides to compare notes and prepare for the next round of dialogue.