Past Events

As two of the largest global economies and energy consumers, China and the U.S. are also the top and third largest methane emitters, respectively. Both nations have significant opportunities to reduce their methane emissions over the next decade, with some methods of reduction having low or no costs associated. In the U.S., it's estimated that a total reduction potential of 224 million metric tons of CO₂ equivalent (Mt CO₂e) can be achieved through abatement measures costing $100/t CO₂e or less by 2030. Meanwhile, in China, the potential for methane reduction is predicted to reach 469 Mt CO₂e in 2030, which is equivalent to a 35% decrease from 2015 levels. Join us to hear from issue-experts, sharing insights from a new report, Reducing Methane Emissions in the U.S. and China.

A collaborative research study between the California-China Climate Institute, UC San Diego and Tsinghua University is culminating in the launch of a new research report, Renewable Energy Pathways to Carbon Neutrality in China. For China to decarbonize the power sector and reach carbon neutrality requires a large increase in low-carbon renewable energy and complementary infrastructure including storage and transmission. While these long-term objectives are clear, the deployment structure, pace, and distributional impacts are uncertain. To address this gap, we developed a novel modeling approach with a high special and temporal resolution to identify the plausible pathways for deploying renewables, storage systems, and transmission lines, by decade, from 2020 to 2060. During this event, we heard about the new report from our joint California-China climate research team.

As two large economies, China and California are now taking actions to reduce methane emissions from the solid waste sector. Since different policies and technologies are adopted in the two jurisdictions, both sides can share lessons-learned and experiences with one another. Join us to hear from issue-experts on these topics, including about the launch of a new California-China Climate Institute report which focuses on lessons-learned from California.

Buildings contribute to 40% of the globe’s greenhouse gas emissions, consuming three-quarters of electricity in the United States alone. Meanwhile, China has the largest building stock in the world, amounting to nearly half of the globe’s new building area. Buildings also contribute significantly to industrial emissions from the production of construction materials like concrete and steel. How can we ensure zero carbon emissions in new building development? How can we reduce emissions from existing building stocks to contribute to climate objectives? Join us to learn from issue-experts on building decarbonization opportunities for the U.S. and China, including examples from the State of California.