Launching the California-China Climate Institute

Welcoming a famous new faculty member and a critical new initiative.

I have two exciting announcements to make.  The first is that Jerry Brown has accepted an appointment as visiting professor at the law school and the College of Natural Resources (CNR) at Berkeley.  That appointment would be exciting enough. But it goes hand in hand with my other news: the public launch of the California-China Climate Institute, which Governor Brown will chair.  CCCI represents the fruits of his discussions with China’s top climate change official, Xie Zhenhua, and will involve Tsinghua University as well as the University of California. Given the centrality of China to global action on climate change, anything that can advance Chinese efforts has critical importance.

CCCI is under the administrative umbrellas of CNR and School of Law, currently affiliated with our Center for Law, Energy, and Environment, but it is really a UC initiative, housed at Berkeley.  The faculty advisory committee contains members drawn from Berkeley’s law school and College of Natural Resources, UCLA School of Law, and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab.

CCCI’s goal is to deploy the university’s resources and expertise to advance research on low-carbon transportation and zero emission vehicles; carbon pricing; climate adaptation and resilience; sustainable land use and climate-smart agriculture; carbon capture and storage; and long-term climate goal-setting and policy enforcement. This will be achieved through close collaboration between the CCCI, the Institute of Climate Change and Sustainable Development at Tsinghua University, China’s national and provincial governments, and many of California’s top government agencies.

Universities aspire to combine expertise across disciplines and national borders, and to apply that expertise to the world’s most pressing problems.  All of that is far easier said than done.  We’re delighted that, thanks to former Governor Brown and Minister Xie, we will have the opportunity to participate in this important effort.

California, California-China Climate Institute, CCCI, China, Climate Change