ISC believes that the U.S and China, the world’s two largest emitters of greenhouse gases, can work together to lead the world in addressing climate disruption.
Our two Chinese programs—the Guangdong Environmental Partnership and the U.S.-China Partnership for Climate Action—are bringing cleaner, healthier, and more sustainable environmental programs and practices to two of China’s most industrial provinces, Guangdong and Jiangsu.
Taking advantage of the best Chinese and U.S. expertise, ISC’s work focuses on developing cooperation among communities, businesses and government to tackle the primary sources of emissions in China, while getting public and private commitment to reduce energy use and increase efficiency.
Launched in 2007, the Guangdong Environmental Partnership aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve public health, and increase environmental accountability in Guangdong province, which has been called the “factory to the world.” Our program works at three levels to spark a wave of change in environmental and energy-efficiency practices in communities across the province:
In order to boost environmental and safety standards in the many factories in Guangdong, ISC’s Environment, Health and Safety Academy provides affordable,
state-of-the-art training to 1,800 factory managers per year to help them implement measures that save energy, reduce harmful emissions, and improve worker health and safety conditions.
We are strengthening the environmental enforcement tools of government by sharing international best practices to bolster information disclosure, citizen monitoring, risk communication, and resource efficiency.
To generate public commitment to using resources wisely, ISC is working with three communities and schools in Guangdong to implement energy efficiency projects in factories, schools, hospitals, and residences. At the same time, we are developing courses on resource efficiency and environmental health for children ages 9-13 and involving the public, business and community leaders, and education administrators in their hands-on learning.
In the fall of 2009, we launched the U.S.-China Partnership for Climate Action with our partner, the World Resources Institute. This program leverages resources and best practices from both countries to achieve significant and lasting greenhouse gas reductions in Jiangsu and Guangdong.
Building on our existing work in Guangdong, the program targets the largest current source of emissions in China—the industrial and power sectors—and the fastest growing source of new emissions—urban cities.
To improve the capacity of energy-intensive industries to reduce their energy and carbon footprints, the program is creating new greenhouse gas accounting tools to standardize measurement. Through our existing Environment, Health and Safety Academy in Guangdong and our second Academy in Jiangsu, we are helping factories implement these new tools.
In 2008, half the increase in annual CO2 emissions worldwide was attributed to the Chinese electric utility sector. With this in mind, the program works to remove key barriers to and build incentives for increased energy efficiency and renewable energy use in the power sector and among end users.
The U.S.-China Partnership for Climate Action was recently featured at the Woodrow Wilson Center’s China Environment Forum. ISC's George Hamilton and Mel Rice discussed how the partnership is promoting public-private energy efficiency initiatives and better measurement of greenhouse gas emissions in Guangdong and Jiangsu. Video is available here.
China's Guangdong province helped spur the nation's economic miracle and remains a powerful engine of growth, generating 11 percent of the nation's gross domestic product. With our partner, Lingnan (University) College, ISC has launched a new Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) Academy to expand the pool of qualified EHS managers serving factories in Guangdong Province.
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In July 2010, ISC held its first two Climate Leadership Academies in China, one in each of the country’s most industrialized provinces, Guangdong and Jiangsu. The trainings focused on low carbon city planning and development, and brought together senior municipal officials and other local leaders from 18 cities to help them create low carbon action plans.
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To help primary school students understand how they can make a difference in their daily lives, ISC organized a food education workshop, which helps students understand the life cycle of the food they eat; and a clothing campaign, to illuminate the environmental impacts of producing and buying new clothes.
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ISC's pilot green roof project is retrofitting 60 residential buildings in the community of Guanlan, in Guangdong's Shenzen city. Together, these buildings will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 75 metric tons every year.
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More than 400 primary school students and their families, teachers and fellow community members attended a workshop aimed at helping community members understand the impact of their individual energy choices.
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ISC is partnering with the Chinese nonprofit, the Institute for Civil Society, to help Sichuan communities plan for the long-term and address issues laid bare by the earthquake—even as they tackle the immediate job of reconstruction.
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The PBS show discusses the profound impact China's industrial growth has had on the environment and greenhouse gas emissions—and how ISC is working to change that through our EHS Academies.
To enforce new rules from the government and U.S. companies, ISC's EHS Academies are training a new breed of worker in China: A consultant who helps factories adhere to standards, without causing outrageous costs.
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In separate speeches—on the same day—EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson featured our Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) Academy in China, while Secretary of State Hillary Clinton highlighted ISC's civil society work in Serbia.
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