About
Chinese President Xi Jinping announced to the September meeting of the UN General Assembly that China would peak its carbon emissions prior to 2030 and reach carbon neutrality by 2060. With China responsible for over one-quarter of global emissions, these new goals have high stakes. In service of its new national targets, China’s will seek to decarbonize its power sector in the near term—and industrial sectors thereafter—with increasing speed and resoluteness. It is less clear how China will transition away from its fossil fuel-based economy. The country is pursuing a raft of national and subnational public policies, technological advances, and evolving business practices to put China on a cleaner trajectory and at the helm of emerging sectors of the global economy. What combination of these approaches will gain primacy in China, and how successful they will be, are open questions.
This panel will address these issues in a roundtable format. The discussion will be conducted in English, with simultaneous translation to Mandarin available.
The panel discussion is sponsored by Duke University's Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions and the Environmental Research Center at Duke Kunshan University.
