ZEW Researchers Discuss Paris Climate Agreement at 2017 Beijing Humboldt Forum

The Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW), the University of International Business and Economics (UIBE), and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation jointly organised this year’s Beijing Humboldt Forum in the Chinese capital from 16 to 18 September 2017. As part of the forum, ZEW organised a session entitled “Implementing the Paris Agreement – The Role of the European Union and China“. During the session, ZEW researcher Dr. Sebastian Voigt and ZEW Research Associate Professor Andreas Löschel engaged in a discussion with international guests regarding the role of China and the EU in international climate policy, especially with regard to the Paris Climate Agreement.

More than 600 participants from science, economics, and politics attended the event, which featured insightful presentations on China’s potential for sustainable growth against the backdrop of a declining, yet still rapid economic growth and increasing levels of environmental pollution. In addition to climate policy, the 20 scientific sessions included topics such as the role of emissions trading, clean energy, global value chains, rare earths, the teaching of the Chinese language as well as cultural aspects of the cooperation between China and the western world. The event was co-organised with BMW China, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft (FhG), the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria (FH OOE), the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) and the Institute of Global Low-Carbon Economy (IGLCE) of the UIBE.

Presentations shed light on European and Chinese climate policy

In cooperation with the University of Münster, Tianjin University and the UIBE, ZEW organised a session entitled “Implementing the Paris Agreement – The Role of the European Union and China“, which analysed the economic effects of the Paris agreement. In his presentation, Professor Andreas Löschel, ZEW Research Associate and chair of microeconomics with a focus on energy and resource economics at the University of Münster, provided insights into the effect of globalisation with regard to the energy footprint and pointed out the significance of global value chains. In the subsequent presentation, Professor ZhongXiang Zhang from Tianjin University highlighted the international role of carbon leakage and the efficiency of policy measures designed to combat these adverse spillover effects.The session also featured a presentation from Dr. Sebastian Voigt, deputy head of the ZEW Research Department “Environmental and Resource Economics, Environmental Management”, who presented his analyses on the EU emissions trading scheme, focusing on its effectiveness as well as on its potential implications for the planned Chinese emissions trading scheme. In his presentation, Professor Huaqing Xu from the National Center for Climate Change Strategy & International Cooperation in Beijing discussed the challenges faced by China in order to meet its climate targets. Finally, the session was concluded with a presentation from Professor Jiansuo Pei from the UIBE, who presented his findings of an experiment conducted among Chinese citizens on their willingness to pay for emission certificates.

Forum for interdisciplinary dialogue

The event prominently promoted interdisciplinary dialogue, which is of central importance when it comes to determining and examining the entire scope of the future challenges of an ecological and sustainable society. As part of the forum, Thomas Kohl, director of ZEW and founding member of the Beijing Humboldt Forum, held a plenary lecture on the future challenges for the Chinese economy, highlighting possible areas of cooperation with Germany. High-profile speakers from different disciplines presented various perspectives on the topics under discussion and considered a variety of approaches to meeting existing challenges. In keeping with the objective of interdisciplinary and international networking at the Beijing Humboldt Forum, valuable contributions to the debate were made by researchers from such varied fields as economics, philology, physics and engineering. Given the success of previous editions, there is great interest in preserving the interdisciplinary character of the event. In collaboration with Professor Xiaohu Feng of the UIBE, who has visited ZEW on numerous occasions, the upcoming BHF in 2018 is all set to further strengthen interdisciplinary dialogue in the fields of environmental protection.