Key points and preliminary interpretation of Sino-US cooperation roadmap for energy and climate change

The Asian Association Center for U.S.-China relations and the Pew Global Climate Change Center jointly implemented a joint Sino-US Energy and Climate Action Plan in 2007, and jointly issued the Roadmap for cooperation on energy and climate Change ("the report") in January 2009. The project was co-chaired by the new U.S. government Energy Secretary Steven Chu and president of the Brookings Institution, John Thornton, and was supported by a number of prominent U.S. politicians, business and academia (such as former U.S. Secretary of state, some senators, Harvard professors, Carnegie Energy and Climate Program Director, etc.).　　Due to the large impact of the project, the report was issued by the United States high-level attention. First, the reason for the choice of climate cooperation with China in the EU-led developed countries committed to large-scale emission reduction of the international situation and domestic demand for emission reduction, the U.S. Obama administration to change the former Bush government to resist emissions reduction of the hard-line attitude, said to be in the climate field. As the U.S. government has to take a stand on emissions cuts at the Copenhagen conference, the US needs to find partners to achieve rapid and effective emissions cuts. And China's greenhouse gas emissions are among the world's largest, facing pressure to cut emissions in the future. After comparing the energy structure and emission status of China and the United States, the study by the US think-tank found that there is potential for cooperation between China and us to reduce emissions, and the joint emission reduction action could enable the Chinese to take part in international emission reduction actions without a commitment to cut emissions, thus achieving stone.　　After two years of research, the Asian Society and the Pew Center put forward: in the climate, the United States and China have common interests, it is necessary to work together to further enhance the level and scale of cooperation on the basis of existing, to provide the two sides with a solid foundation for bilateral relations.　　Second, the main content of the report is divided into four parts, from the possibility of cooperation, the necessity, the priority areas of cooperation and cooperation steps are elaborated. (a) the possibility of cooperation between the two countries after reviewing the development of Sino-US relations, the report points out that China-US cooperation has a historical foundation, and that the first Sino-US strategic cooperation has also produced astonishing political power, which has exerted far-reaching influence on the international economic structure and political pattern. In the face of the threat of climate change in the world, as the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases and energy consumers, China and the United States can provide leadership and impetus by strengthening bilateral cooperation in the field of energy and climate to lead the second transition of the international socio-economic and political order-the establishment of a global low-carbon economy.　　Moreover, China-US cooperation also has a realistic basis, China and the United States in the field of energy and environmental protection has been fragmented cooperation, if the two countries to support the high-level, further close cooperation is possible. (ii) The need for cooperation analysis report on the economic structure of the United States and China, on the basis of careful comparison and analysis of energy structure, emission level and energy efficiency, it is pointed out that although the economic strength and emission structure of the two countries are different, they are both coal production and consumption countries, and face some common Core challenges, For example, you need to reduce energy intensity and carbon emissions in energy systems.The intensity of emissions requires a new type of sustainable, stable, reliable and economic energy for the country, as well as massive investments in technology and infrastructure, in the context of carbon reduction, so cooperation between the two sides is necessary.　　(iii) The core of the recommendations for collaborative organizational institution building and priority areas of cooperation lies in the practical and operational nature of its recommendations. 1. The establishment of the Sino-US Cooperation Agency (the following two sectors as a parallel relationship) report suggests the creation of a corresponding agency, the Special Division cooperation.　　(1) The establishment of China-US Climate Leadership Committee, the formulation of overall cooperation planning, (2) Establishment of bilateral technical working groups, identification of areas of cooperation and design cooperation plans, and the organization of specific projects, implementation supervision.　　2. The priority areas of cooperation for emission reduction (energy security and emission reduction potential and the most profitable areas) are set out in the specific areas of cooperation and emission reduction. (1) The use of low emissions of coal technology. Recent plans to ensure efficient operation of all new power plants and increase the efficiency of the built plants.　　At the same time, the two countries will expeditiously introduce laws and regulations and technical standards on carbon capture and sequestration (CCS), establish public-private investment funds, conduct CCS demonstration projects, implement data sharing and jointly develop CCS technologies that can be used by both countries. (2) Improve energy efficiency and expand energy conservation measures. The introduction of energy efficiency standards and identification certification, the establishment of heavy industry in the high energy-consuming industries benchmark evaluation, incentive enterprises to improve energy efficiency.　　As China and the United States have a unique advantage in the auto market, the report suggests that the two sides can seek a global agreement on vehicle fuel consumption standards. (3) Develop advanced power grids and new storage technologies. The large use of renewable energy in the future requires cooperation in the development of efficient power grids and new storage technologies, and to solve the problem of a large number of intermittent wind power network.　　It is suggested that the two sides establish cooperative smart Grid demonstration project and discuss the development of storage technology. (4) Promotion of renewable energy. China and the United States are the world's renewable energy countries with broad development prospects.　　The two sides can work together in areas of mutual interest, such as solar thermal storage and biofuel technology, to share relevant expertise, reduce information barriers and develop research and development plans for renewable energy.　　3. In order to ensure the effectiveness of the mitigation activities, the cooperative safeguard measures are proposed in the report. (1) accurate measurement of emissions.　　By cooperating in the implementation of MRV (measurable, verifiable, verifiable) procedures, both parties participate in the process of collecting emission data and share all data. (2) Cost-benefit analysis of emission reduction.　　The report suggests that Chinese and American scholars expand situational analysis to predict emissions and economic conditions in different scenarios in order to analyze the cost and potential of emission reductions. (3) Financial mechanism.　　The research and development funds needed for Low-carbon technology should adopt the way of "public-directed private, small-stroke-big", use appropriate public resources to guide large amount of private capital investment, and fundamentally solve the problem of insufficient funds. (4) To promote the flexible use of intellectual property. For the current low carbon technology in the transferThe patent fees involved in the process are too high and intellectual property rights protection issues, the report recommends a mandatory "carbon licensing model", while protecting the rights of innovators, while making low-carbon technology more widely used. (5) China establishes "low carbon Special Economic zone".　　Referring to the "special Economic Zone" model of China's reform and opening-up, the report suggests that "low carbon special Economic zones" can be set up to implement special preferential tax and economic policies in the SAR, so as to facilitate the implementation of funds and technical mechanisms.　　(iv) Steps for cooperation the first step in initiating a new partnership is to have the leaders of the two countries meet as soon as possible after the inauguration of the new United States government, which is then implemented through the High-level Climate Change Steering Committee and the Technical Working Group two institutions. Third, the report of the overall evaluation report more comprehensive and in-depth analysis of the Sino-US cooperation in the climate field feasibility, the proposed recommendations and China's current environmental policy in line with the direction, it is worth affirming. The report's starting point is to lay a solid foundation for bilateral relations between the two countries, and the proposed partnership is to further enhance the level and scale of cooperation on the basis of existing bilateral cooperation, which will make the past agreements between China and the United States more sustainable.　　The report has a positive significance in the following areas.　　(1) Integrating climate change and energy security into consideration is a new and important area for Sino-US cooperation, which is in line with China's long-term strategic interests and current practical needs. (2) Linking climate change and financial crisis to an integrated response will not only help solve the emissions problem, but also generate a new batch of industries to promote employment and economic recovery.　　This is of particular significance for China, which has a population of 1.3 billion.　　(3) The basic starting point of the report is to establish an equitable Sino-US bilateral relationship and to take into account the "common but differentiated responsibility", which is consistent with China's principled stance on the issue and has an equitable basis.　　(4) The report proposes the joint research and development of new technology and the model of low carbon technology authorization, to some extent avoids the problem of excessive protection of intellectual property, so that China can acquire relevant technology and knowledge at low cost in the shortest time.　　(5) China can use the idea of "public and private capital participation in Low-carbon technology investment" from the report and raise funds through multi-channel to solve the environmental problems in development.　　(6) Compared with other reports, the road map does not provide China with clear targets for reducing emissions. Iv. issues to be concerned since the report is only an intentional road map, many of the recommendations are vague and difficult to judge by their nature.　　There are therefore a number of issues that require further attention. (1) The relationship between bilateral cooperation and multilateral cooperation.　　The report focuses on bilateral cooperation and is positive, but China-US cooperation needs to be carried out under the framework of global cooperation, in collaboration with China, Japan and South-America, and to maintain communication and communication with multilateral partner countries. (2) in the cooperative low-carbon economy, we should pay attention to the level of Low-carbon technology, combined with China's more populous, less money in the actual situation, both the development of high-end technology, but also to develop employment-driven industries,To avoid the blind pursuit of capital-intensive technology, the country to bring economic burden.　　(3) The report does not provide an estimate of the demand for funds and a specific schedule of work, and it is necessary to further define the rights, obligations, modalities of cooperation and procedures of the parties in the course of cooperation in order to secure a programme of work in favour of China. (4) On low carbon special economic zones. China has entered an open market-led economy, and it is not possible to set the "Special Economic Zone" as it was in the past, giving only certain regional policies and not allowing other regions to carry out low-carbon economic construction.　　Therefore, further discussion of this issue is needed. (5) Elimination of tariff and Non-tariff barriers for trade in environmentally friendly products and services. China currently has a number of star products in the international environmental product market, such as photovoltaic panels, energy-saving lamps and so on, so the removal of trade barriers to these products is advantageous; But our export products also have a lot of high carbon products, this part of the production process in the short term can not meet international emission standards　　Therefore, the proposal needs to be treated with caution. Overall, the report is positive, and the United States hopes to establish a long-term comprehensive strategic partnership in cooperation with China's climate, which is conducive to China's sustainable development strategy, and that most of the priority areas of cooperation in the report on energy-saving measures are in line with China's current environmental policy and deserve recognition. (Wenhua Chen Pan)