From 8 to 15 September 2024, GIZ’s “Sino-German Cooperation on Climate Change – NDC Implementation” project hosted a study tour on climate change adaptation to Germany and the Netherlands.
Two events took place in Beijing in September 2024, supported by the Sino-German Climate Partnership, a project implemented by GIZ on behalf of the German Federal Foreign Office: the first Sino-German Climate Study Camp, organized in collaboration with Technical University of Munich (TUM) and Tsinghua University, as well as the third keynote lecture of the NextGen Climate Dialogue series. These events strengthened contacts and enabled exchange between young climate leaders from China, Germany, and other European nations, equipping them with the knowledge and skills needed to tackle the global climate challenge. They also provided a platform for engagement on climate science, policy, and action to those students who sought a better understanding of the science of climate change and avenues for climate action.
The “Sino-German Climate Change Cooperation – NDC Implementation” program serves as the knowledge hub for the IKI in China, promoting networking and exchange among IKI projects and facilitating exchange with political partners. In this role, it invited to this year’s IKI China Interface and Networking Workshop which took place from 28 to 29 August 2024. China is a priority country of the International Climate Initiative (IKI) in which bilateral and regional projects focusing on combatting climate change as well as protecting the environment and biodiversity are being implemented.
Effort sharing, in the EU context, refers to a policy framework, and associated legislation, whereby the EU’s overall emissions reduction
target is translated to targets for individual Member States. This paper looks at the EU’s effort sharing approach to greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions reductions: how EU-wide emissions reduction targets have been translated to individual Member State targets, what policies
have been put in place at the EU and Member State levels to ensure said targets are met, and what have been the results thus far. This
examination has been carried out with the view of providing useful lessons for China and its provinces.
On June 18th, 2024, the European Commission and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) of the People’s Republic of China signed the Memorandum of Understanding to Enhance cooperation on Emissions Trading (hereinafter referred to as “the MOU”) in Brussels to replace the previous one which was signed on July 18th, 2018. Building on the EU-China Climate Change Partnership and bilateral projects, the cooperation will continue for a period of five years.
As the impacts of climate change are now being experienced across the globe, so the scale of the adaptation challenge is becoming
increasingly apparent. Over the last decade, almost every nation has begun the process of adaptation planning in some form. At a national
level, many countries now have National Adaptation Strategies or National Adaptation Plans. These often inform, and are informed by,
sub-national adaptation planning processes which are usually tailored to the governance structure of the country and the different tiers
of government which may exist. The number of sectoral adaptation plans has also grown considerably, as countries better understand the
distinct challenges of adapting to climate change.
The growing demand for adaptation planning has generated a burgeoning academic literature, but also an exponential growth in practical
guidance, tools and resources aimed at those tasked with developing adaptation plans. While climate adaptation is inherently context
specific, it is clear that a number of key principles for good adaptation planning can be identified which can be of considerable value
to those beginning this process. More specifically, the framing of adaptation as a cycle is extremely valuable for those trying to interpret
national level approaches in a sub-national context. This approach emphasises adaptation planning as a continual process, rather than an
end goal, which is especially important as we continue to experience worsening climate change impacts, including multiple interacting
impacts in increasingly dynamic social and economic contexts.
The purpose of this briefing note is to consider and compare the more practical literature on adaptation in order to reflect on how the
process of adaptation planning has been conceptualised, and to identify lessons from this continually evolving field which can be used as
China begins to strengthen adaptation at the sub-national level. We focus particularly on experiences from Europe and Germany, however
it should be noted that many of the key concepts are consistently used globally, and have proven to be useful in a multitude of contexts.
Phasing out fossil fuels in Inner Mongolia’s heating sector is a requirement to meet the central government’s climate objectives. Achieving
the Chinese national goals of peaking emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060 (“30/60 goals”) will require the energy systems of
all provinces and sectors to transform away from fossil fuels to the wide penetration of renewables. Such transformation will require careful
and timely planning to allow for the development and commercialisation of appropriate technology and to avoid locking in fossil fuel
reliant technologies and infrastructure. As one of the coldest Chinese provinces and endowed with rich coal resources, the heating sector
of Inner Mongolia is energy intensive and a large CO2 emitter, Following population growth, urbanisation and increasing living standards,
residential heat demand in Inner Mongolia is growing more rapidly compared to any other Chinese province. Yet, Inner Mongolia is
among the provinces with the highest renewables potential. Using that potential with already available and emerging heating technologies
could be an opportunity for the province to avoid carbon lock-in of long-life fossil fuel-based heating infrastructure while delivering
additional sustainable development benefits.
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and Hunan Research Academy of Environmental Sciences (HRAES) jointly kicked-off a collaboration aiming to speed up decarbonization of the transportation sector in Hunan province in Changsha on 25th July 2024. The cooperation with HRAES will contribute to the development of carbon reduction pathways for the transport sector at the provincial level as reference for decision makers to formulate and refine relevant strategies, policies and action plans.
One focus of the NDC Implementation project is the cooperation on climate change adaptation at the subnational level in China, such as supporting provinces with the local implementation of national adaptation strategies. After the selection of partner provinces in consultation with the political partners Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) and Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE), the first half of 2024 was characterised by an intensive scoping phase during which the provinces put forward their focus areas that would benefit from international cooperation.
On August 2, the State Council released a “Work Plan for Accelerating the Establishment of a Dual-Control System for Carbon Emissions.” Historically, China has focused on managing both the total energy consumption and energy intensity since the 1980s—a strategy known as “dual control of energy.” However, with the growing need to combat climate change and utilize the comparative advantage of clean energy, the Chinese government announced in 2021 that it would gradually transform from a system of “dual control of energy” to a system of “dual control of carbon emission”. In July 2023, the Central Committee for Comprehensively Deepening Reform officially endorsed the shift from energy dual control to carbon emission dual control.
