Symposium on Climate Change, Green Growth and CCUS 2018 (Part I)

Large parts of the industrial sector, and steel-making in particular, is both CO2 and energy intensive, especially in countries and regions with industrial power and rapid economic development. In light of the sustainable development goals of the United Nations, and international commitments made by the vast majority of nations, green growth and development in the industrial sector will play an important role in leading the economic and social transformation of society.

The Symposium on Climate Change, Green Growth and CCUS was held on November 20-21, 2018 at Peking University, organized by Peking University Public Policy Forum International.

The Symposium invited government officials, industry experts, the finance community and institutional scholars globally, to share knowledge and ideas with a focus on large-scale emissions reduction in the industrial sector, and particularly the role of Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS). Co-chaired by Prof. FU Jun, National School of Development at Peking University and Dr. Graham Winkelman, BHP's Practice Lead Climate Change, the event had four sequential sessions, more than a hundres participants attended the event.

Opening Speeches

Prof. FU Jun expressed his warmest welcome to all the guests worldwide, he emphasized that Public Policy Forum International is an international platform of exchanging ideas about global public policy issues including addressing climate change for green growth and sustainable development.

Mr SUN Zhen, Deputy Director General for Climate, Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE), Ms Elizabeth Peak, Australian Economics Minister Counsellor to China, and Mr Neal Carlin, head of climate change and environment of British Embassy Beijing, spoke at the opening session. Mr. SUN Zhen pointed out that we should pay more attention on the potential of cost reduction in addition to focusing on the current technical cost of CCUS. Ms Elizabeth Peak deeply appreciated how much has been achieved in advancing CCUS with commendation to BHP for its supporting on low emissions technology. And Mr Neal Carlin said that CCUS is a potential technology to decarbonize the economy and maximize global economic opportunities.

Climate Change and Green Growth

Mr Chi Jingdong, Vice chairman of China Iron and Steel Association gave a keynote speech on China’s iron/steel industry and its sustainable development. He shared China’s achievements in energy saving and environmental protection in iron/steel sector and he expressed that low carbon development is the core of transition and upgrading of China’s iron/steel industry.

Ms Fiona Wild, Vice President for Environment and Climate Change of BHP attached great necessity to the efforts reducing climate risks and promoting sustainable development and she believes that the world must pursue the twin objectives of limiting climate change in line with current international agreements while providing access to affordable energy, and implement in a way that achieves lowest cost emissions reductions – both are essential to sustainable development. BHP is among sector leaders in setting an absolute target to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

Prof. Teng Fei from Tsinghua University presented IPCC’s 1.5 degree C report: a call to action. An average of 1 °C global warming already happened, we are consuming remaining carbon budget rapidly, the mitigation cost is much higher and full of uncertainty, and the knowledge gaps remain and political consensus is not strong enough to move towards 1.5 °C as global goals he said.

Mr. Li Junfeng, former Director General of National Center for Climate Change Strategy and International Cooperation, talked on China's Mid-Long-Term Low-Carbon Transformation. As the world's second largest economy and the biggest greenhouse gas emission entity, China faces great pressure form emission reduction and low-carbon development is not just a transformation of development mode, but also a policy arrangement for a new order in international development.

Dr. Zhai Yongping, Chief Energy Sector of Asia Development Bank shared with participants the evolving trends in energy sector with the topic of Addressing Climate and Energy Challenges through Innovations - Asian Development Bank Approach, and he stressed that Innovative technologies, business models and financing instruments were all very crucial in the evaluation process of ADB, which should also be paid special attention to in the development of new energies and CCUS.

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