On December 4, 2023, Energy Foundation China (EF China) hosted a high-level forum and an international philanthropy roundtable in Dubai, marking the beginning of the foundation’s five-day COP28 Pavilion themed “Enhancing Ambition Through Implementation.” Chinese climate officials and representatives of international philanthropies and think tanks discussed how China and the world can strengthen collaboration in climate governance and the low carbon transition, as well as on how to enhance the ambition and implementation of climate actions globally. They also expressed their expectations for the first global stocktake under the Paris Agreement at the COP28. The EF China COP28 Pavilion aims to leverage the foundation’s role as a bridge between China and the international community and contribute to a global consensus on climate change and energy transition goals and actions.

Zou Ji, CEO and President of EF China, and Zhang Hongjun, Board Chair of EF China, hosted the high-level forum and the philanthropy roundtable respectively. Liu Zhenmin, former Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, former Vice Minister of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Senior Advisor to China Special Envoy for Climate Change; Tim Gould, Chief Energy Economist of the International Energy Agency; and Sir Danny Alexander, Vice President for Policy and Strategy at the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, delivered keynote speeches. Representatives from international climate philanthropies such as the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, the ClimateWorks Foundation, the Sequoia Climate Foundation, and the Global Methane Hub attended the event, along with EF China board members.

The participants agreed that it is imperative to mitigate climate change and the energy crisis despite multiple challenges in global climate cooperation. They hoped that the first global stocktake at the COP28 will help countries understand the gap between their climate ambitions and current actions. The world should work together towards the goal of tripling the capacity of renewable energy worldwide by 2030, and formulate more effective national targets and action plans to this end, they argued. They also said countries around the world should use innovative policies and financial instruments to increase investment in renewable energy infrastructure and promote international collaboration in green investment and financing. The participants recognized China’s prominent role in accelerating decarbonization globally and expressed their expectations for more inputs from international climate philanthropies and think tanks to international climate dialogue and cooperation.

In recent years, EF China has played a more active role at the annual United Nations climate change conferences, as well as in fostering exchanges between China and the United States, Europe, Southeast Asia, and other countries and regions on climate change and energy topics. Through “Track II” dialogues, the foundation has also promoted communication and collaboration among think tanks, academic institutions, financial institutions, and enterprises between China and other parts of the world at the national, subnational, and local levels. Going forward, EF China is committed to continuing to serve as a bridge between China and the rest of the world, to advance climate change mitigation, economic recovery, and energy security through the energy transition, and thereby to help China and the world achieve low carbon prosperity.