California Signs Agreement With China To Boost Green Technology Development

California Governor Jerry Brown signed an agreement this week with China’s Minister of Science and Technology that will strengthen ties between the two and increase cooperation on the development of green technology.

International trips take a long time to plan, and political international trips even longer, so California Governor Edmund “Jerry” Brown must be counting his lucky stars that his visit to China positions him as the leading US politician in the battle against climate change and in support of clean energy technology. Considering that Donald Trump only last week announced that he was withdrawing the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement — a move, mind you, which only seems to have served to increase the commitment of US states and cities to the Agreement, not to mention other US leaders — California now seems to have solidified itself as a main player on the international stage from the United States.

“California is the leading economic state in America and we are also the pioneering state on clean technology, cap and trade, electric vehicles and batteries, but we can’t do it alone,” said Governor Brown during his meeting with President Xi. “I have proposed that California will cut its greenhouse gases 40 percent below 1990 levels and that we’ll have 50 percent of our electricity from renewables. To keep that goal, we need a very close partnership with China – with your businesses, with your provinces, with your universities.”

Governor and Minister of Science and Technology Wan Gang.

On Tuesday, California Governor Jerry Brown met with President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China, and signed a Memorandum of Understanding with China’s Minister of Science and Technology, Wan Gang, to deepen the commitments between the two to cooperate on the development of green technology. Specifically, according to the MoU itself, its objective “is to support the Participants in advancing innovation and development of, and investment in, low-carbon energy resources and clean technologies.”

Further, the MoU will see China and California cooperate on areas such as clean energy technologies; greenhouse gas emission and air pollution reduction programs; environmental protection technologies; carbon capture, utilization, and storage technologies; and more.

Governor Brown’s trip seems to be all about climate and clean energy technology. On day 1 of his trip, he signed a new pact with Chengdu focusing on broadening cooperation between the two states on low-carbon technologies, environmental protection, and clean energy development. On day 2, Governor Brown delivered remarks at an international environmental summit in Nanjing, and signed a new agreement with California’s sister-state, Jiangsu Province, to broaden bilateral collaboration on climate action. On day 3, after he had signed the MoU with China, Governor Brown also spoke at a Clean Energy Ministerial forum focused on electric vehicles, and another on the economic transition to clean energy. And on Wednesday, Brown opened the Under2 Clean Energy Forum.

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