Beijing, August 11, 2023 – Greenpeace and the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies jointly released a report “The Race and Cooperation of China-EU Clean Energy Investment”. The report believes that in the face of climate change, a major challenge for all mankind, China and Europe should work together to build a green partnership, advocate a zero-carbon development model, and deepen cooperation in the field of clean energy:
First, promote clean energy industry investment and green trade. China and Europe should strengthen cooperation and innovation in key core technologies, and cooperate to build global clean energy supply chains.
Second, accelerate the construction of new energy power systems between China and Europe, strengthen international cooperation under the guiding principles of complementary advantages and mutual benefit, and achieve energy transformation in both sides based on renewable energy development roadmaps.
Third, jointly develop renewable energy and maintain the resilience of resource industrial chains, lead the institutional construction of the Paris Agreement to respond to climate change, and cooperate to enhance the global capacity for sustainable development.
Against the backdrop of geopolitical tensions and weak global economic recovery, the global economy faces tremendous contradictions between energy demand and climate governance responsibilities in response to climate change and global green development. Major economies around the world have made the green transformation of their economies and energy a key focus for seeking economic growth, addressing climate change, and achieving energy security. With the launch of the UN Race to Zero campaign, the global green economy is thriving at the national, local, corporate and community levels. Production, supply chains, finance, rules, technological innovation and more related to the green economy are also accelerating evolution and optimization. The trend of competition and cooperation among major world and regional powers continues to intensify. With the acceleration of a new round of scientific, technological and industrial revolutions, green development has become a new growth point and core competitiveness of major economies. As a leader and contributor to the global clean energy transition, the competitive and cooperative relationship between China and the EU around the green economy will be a major aspect of future bilateral relations. China-EU cooperation will provide the world with more extensive technological solutions to address climate change and energy transformation, and accelerate the realization of global carbon neutrality goals.
Yu Hongyuan, editor-in-chief and lead author of the report, and director of the Institute of Public Policy and Innovation Studies at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, emphasized that the report illustrates how to start from win-win cooperation between China-EU industries, aiming to promote the formation of China-EU green forces and ultimately facilitate the development of China-EU green partnerships. Advancing green finance, green industry and green markets is the general trend, and also the new growth points and highlands for cooperation between China and Europe. China and the EU are important investors in each other in areas such as renewable energy and green trade and investment, and there is also great potential for cooperation in third-party markets. Whether from a strategic, institutional or action level, China and Europe have laid a good foundation for building a green partnership. As General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: “China and Europe have a lot in common when it comes to promoting peace, development and cooperation. The two sides should continue to deepen green partnerships and pragmatic cooperation in various fields based on the principle of mutual benefit and win-win results. The two sides should continue to adhere to multilateralism and promote major global agendas.” The China-EU green partnership is a full manifestation of Xi Jinping’s ecological civilization thought and the concept of a shared future for mankind. It is another important partnership beyond the four major partnerships of “peace, growth, reform and civilization” between China and Europe. It is an important driving force to achieve green recovery and growth in China and Europe beyond the traditional recovery model.
Gao Yuhui, senior project leader for climate and energy at Greenpeace and co-author of the report, said: “Under the strong demand for global green recovery in the post-pandemic era and the thriving development of the clean energy revolution, in the face of the shared vision of carbon neutrality, China and the EU, as the two largest investors in global clean energy, should seize the new opportunities in climate governance and energy transformation, jointly address the challenges of energy security and low-carbon transformation. This will not only deepen the common interests of China and Europe, but also help promote the global positive response to climate change and enhance the capacity for sustainable development.”
