On August 4, China’s lead official on climate change, Minister XIE Zhenhua, hosted a research and policy consultation with Profs. Mike McELROY, Steve WOFSY, executive director Chris NIELSEN, and Project alumni Dr. ZHANG Hongjun (Holland & Knight, LLP) and Prof. LU Xi (Tsinghua University) at his offices in Beijing. Discussion topics included the state of U.S.-China engagement on climate and the growing role of subnational governments, disparate regional capacities for carbon control within China, the relative merits of carbon markets versus carbon taxes and prospects for a hybrid carbon-pricing policy, and the high risks of attempted geoengineering of the climate.
China’s new Minister of Environment, LI Ganjie, met with the same China Project delegation, joined also by former China Project postdoc Dr. LIU Bingjiang, now director-general of the Department of Air Pollution Control at the Ministry of Environmental Protection. The focus of discussion was the persistent challenges of air pollution in China, the physical and chemical complexity of haze and its geographical heterogeneity, and the need for collaborative advances in the underlying science. Minister LI suggested a formal collaboration with the Harvard-China Project, to be developed in subsequent discussions between the Project and its alumni holding positions at the Ministry, soon to begin.
Photos (below, left to right): Professor Mike MCELROY shakes hands with Minister LI Ganjie; Profs. Steve WOFSY, Mike MCELROY, Minister XIE Zehnhua, and Chris NIELSEN
