China 'no longer a passive participant in climate governance'

30 September 2014

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© Oxford Martin School

Valuable first steps towards a global academic dialogue on China's role in climate policy were taken when Professor Huan Qingzhi of Peking University delivered a lecture at the Oxford Martin School on 23 September.

Organised by the Oxford Martin Programme on Human Rights for Future Generations, The Oxford China Centre, The Universities' China Committee in London and the University of Reading's Reading Ethics and Political Philosophy group, the lecture took place as world leaders met in New York City for the UN Climate Summit, ahead of next year's Paris negotiations on a new global climate treaty.

Professor Huan, a leading scholar working at Peking University's Centre for Environmental Politics Research, presented an ethical perspective on China's role in global climate governance.

"China has moved from observer to passive to active participant in climate talks. There is a moral, political and legal need to act but China is unlikely to reshape dramatically its international climate change strategy."
Professor Huan Qingzhi

His lecture was followed by a discussion with Professor Rana Mitter of Oxford's China Centre and Benito Mueller of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, and a lively question and answer session with the audience.