In late March 2020, Energy Foundation China, Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, the Institutes of Science and Development of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, European Climate Foundation, Third Generation Environmentalism (E3G) and the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED) Secretariat organized an online expert meeting for the council’s Special Policy Study (SPS) on global climate governance and China’s role. More than 70 economics and climate experts from China, the UK, and European countries discussed what the current global responses to the Covid-19 pandemic and economic downturn are, how to shape a new growth story through green stimulus packages, and how to coordinate a low carbon stimulus with China’s near-, medium-, and long-term plans to promote high-quality development and modernization.

The ongoing pandemic and economic challenges highlight the importance of international exchange and collaboration in addressing global crises, according to the experts. They agreed that this crisis would lead to the establishment of a new global governance system. Short-term stimulus must be coherent with long-term vision, such as national green development strategies, and it must be optimized to avoid carbon locked-in of traditional investment and excess capacity. Lessons from the stimulus after the 2008 financial crisis must be learned to make the new economic governance more sustainable: investing in renewable energy, electric vehicles, and public transport for the short term, while greening and upgrading high carbon industries through policies, regulations, and financial instruments, they said. The experts also emphasized the importance of increasing resilience to the impact of risks such as epidemic, climate, and economic crises. They said international cooperation must be strengthened to assist developing countries in greening their development and maintaining the momentum of climate and environmental issues in the current challenging environment.

Experts attended the dialogue included Li Yonghong, Deputy Director-General of the Foreign Environmental Cooperation Center of China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment and Assistant Secretary-General of CCICED; Lord Nicholas Stern, Professor of Economics and Government, the London School of Economics and Political Science; Knut Alfsen, CCICED Special Advisor and former Head Research Director of the Center for International Climate and Environment Research; John Murton, Director of Diplomacy, COP 26 Unit of UK Cabinet Office; Fang Jin, Secretary General of the China Development Research Foundation and Senior Research Fellow at the Development Research Center of the State Council; Kate Hampton, CCICED Member and CEO of the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation; Wang Yi, Member of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People’s Congress of China and Vice President of the Institutes of Science and Development, Chinese Academy of Sciences; ZOU Ji, CCICED Special Advisor and CEO and President of Energy Foundation China; Laurence Tubiana, CEO of the European Climate Foundation; Nick Mabey, Founding Director and Chief Executive of Third Generation Environmentalism; Kristian Parker, Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Oak Foundation; and 60 other senior representatives.