Stepping up climate action in China and around the world: How local governments, the private sector, and civil society can help

On Wednesday 10 October, 2018 Senior Researcher Tom Hale will be talking at the Beijing Energy Network, as part of the Beijing Energy & Environmental Roundtable.

The talk, titled "Stepping up climate action in China and around the world: How local governments, the private sector, and civil society can help", will address need to enhance climate ambition by 2020. As the impacts of climate change continue to mount, the IPCC’s October 8th report on reaching the 1.5℃target shows the need for—and tremendous benefits of—rapid, aggressive action. Fortunately, this growing imperative for action is being matched by an expanding arsenal of solutions. Many of these opportunities are being developed, adopted, and championed by local governments (including cities, states, provinces, regions, etc.), the private sector, and civil society, either independently or through transnational networks and initiatives, and often in partnership with national governments and international organisations. This groundswell of climate action has become a critical element of the international climate process. What is the potential of cities, states and regions, business, investors, civil society groups, and other “non-Party actors” to contribute to the climate dilemma globally, and in China? How does their role relate to that of nation states? How can we make the most of the innovative shift in climate policy and in global governance more broadly?