On September 13, the State of California and China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) signed a landmark memorandum of understanding committing to joint efforts to combat global climate change, promote clean and efficient energy, and support low carbon development.

California Governor Jerry Brown and NDRC Vice Chairman Xie Zhenhua—China’s lead international climate negotiator—signed the pact at a ceremony in San Francisco. This is the first such arrangement between China’s NDRC and a sub-national government to address climate change. California is a leader in low carbon efforts and this agreement sets a precedent for broader U.S.-China cooperation on climate change. The governor’s office expressed special thanks to Energy Foundation China and the Environmental Defense Fund for their contributions to this agreement.

Energy Foundation China and its grantees have been working closely on China’s low carbon development, focusing on emissions trading schemes design; allocation methodologies; and monitoring, reporting, and verification. The Low-carbon Development Paths and Environmental Management programs have helped facilitate exchanges between experts from the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and other organizations in California and their Chinese counterparts. Energy Foundation China is now helping to develop programs to train officials and policy advisers from China’s seven emissions-trading pilots at CARB. Read more about the agreement here.

Energy Foundation launched EF China in 1999. As of 2019, the two operate as individual and separate charitable organizations.