The Guide to Chinese Climate Policy - with David Sandalow and Michal Meidan

Environment China

Today, we're discussing the newly released Guide to Chinese Climate Policy, published by the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. The book is available for free download at https://chineseclimatepolicy.oxfordenergy.org/. We are welcoming two past guests back onto the podcast: David Sandalow and Michal Meidan, who co-authored the Guide along with Anders Hove (OIES), Philip Andrews-Speed, Edmund Downie (Princeton), and Sally Qiu (Columbia).

In our discussion, we touch on the following:

• China's emissions trends
• The main drivers of emissions for each fossil fuel
• Whether China is committed to its climate goals, given near-term economic issues
• Why China is still building coal
• Trends in nuclear power
• The role of market reforms
• And lastly, David reports on his main takeaways from COP27 in Egypt

Professor David Sandalow is the Inaugural Fellow at Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy. Prior to Columbia, David served in senior positions in the US government – at the White House, State Department and US Department of Energy. He’s also served in various roles at the Brookings Institution, the Clinton Global Initiative, and the World Wildlife Fund. He is the author of numerous reports and articles about China energy and environmental policies and trends, and he’s very knowledgeable about China. He joined us on episode 62, to talk about the 2019 version of the Guide.

Dr Michal Meidan is Director of the China Programme at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. Before joining OIES in July 2019, she headed cross-commodity China research at Energy Aspects. Prior to that, she headed China Matters, an independent research consultancy providing analysis on the politics of energy in China. She is the author of numerous academic papers, articles, and books related to China, energy, and political economy.