Chinese city officials discuss low-carbon planning strategies at ISC's first international Climate Leadership Academy.

As global climate disruption and greenhouse gas emissions become increasingly urgent problems, ISC is working in the U.S. and China—the world’s two largest emitters—to help them reduce harmful greenhouse gases.

In the U.S., ISC’s Climate Leadership Academies help city officials and climate practitioners accelerate local solutions to these global issues. In May, ISC held its third U.S. academy, which focused on creating green jobs, particularly among low-income populations, and developing clean energy economies in cities.

Using the successful U.S. academies as a model, ISC held its first two Climate Leadership Academies in China this July, one in each of the country’s most industrialized provinces, Guangdong and Jiangsu. The trainings, organized in the cities of Guangzhou (July 8-10) and Nanjing (July 13-14), focused on low carbon city planning and development. They brought together local leaders from 18 cities to help them create low-carbon action plans—which the Chinese government will likely require of all cities in the coming year.

Local partners Guangdong Human Resources and Social Security Department, Sun Yat-Sen University, Organizational Department of Jiangsu CPC Committee, Jiangsu Development and Reform Commission (DRC), and Nanjing University helped ISC organize the trainings.

The two Climate Leadership Academies covered a variety of topics such as low carbon city concepts, approaches, and tools, as well as how to engage stakeholders across sectors in decision making. In Guangzhou, 25 director-level senior officials from the cities of Zhuhai, Heyuan, Dongguan, Foshan, and host city Guangzhou—combined population of more than 28 million—attended the training. In Nanjing, 26 deputy mayors and DRC directors from all 13 major cities in Jiangsu participated, and Mr. Xuming, the Vice Governor of Jiangsu Province, delivered opening remarks.

More than 20 national and international experts were brought in to deliver high-quality training, including Mr. Junfeng Li, Deputy Director of the National DRC Energy Research Institute, and senior representatives from Boston, Minneapolis and Seattle. Steve Nicholas, ISC’s Vice President of Climate & Environment Programs, gave a presentation on “What is a Low Carbon City? The Seattle Case,” based on his eight years as Seattle’s Sustainability Director.

In addition to learning from experts, Chinese participants also praised the interactive peer learning approach—unique to ISC’s academies—which helped them connect and learn from counterparts in other cities as well as their own.

This first training sets the stage for a series of Climate Leadership Academies over the next 3 years, including deeper capacity building in the various aspects of low carbon development, such as improving energy efficiency, developing efficient transportation, and adapting to climate change.

The Climate Leadership Academy is a major capacity building activity within the “Cities” component of ISC’s U.S.-China Partnership for Climate Action program. For more information, please contact ISC’s Low Carbon City Program Manager, Pan Tao