Impact of China’s Cap and Trade Announcement

What are the implications of China’s “Cap and Trade” program announcement? Will it position China as a leader in addressing threats posed by climate change? And what impact will it have on the global debate about how we should respond to a warming planet? That’s the focus of this edition of  Wilson Center NOW.

Guests

Ruth Greenspan Bell is Public Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Research Associate, Center for Decision Sciences, Columbia Business School and Visiting Scholar at the Environmental Law Institute.  With a long-standing focus on the governance issues inherent in managing greenhouse gas emissions, domestically and internationally, she is co-leader (with Elke Weber of Columbia University) of a program to harvest insights from behavioral social science research to demonstrate how to re-motivate how humans engage with energy. Previously, she was Senior Fellow and Director of the US Climate Policy Objective at World Resources Institute; directed International Institutional Development and Environmental Assistance at Resources for the Future; Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs; and before that, in various domestic management positions in U.S. EPA's Office of General Counsel.

Jennifer Turner has been the director of the China Environment Forum at the Woodrow Wilson Center for 13 years. She has created meetings, exchanges and publications focusing on a variety of energy and environmental challenges facing China, particularly on water, energy and climate challenges, as well as environmental nongovernmental organizations, environmental journalism, and environmental governance in China. Her current projects are: Choke Point: China—a multimedia and convening initiative uncovering how energy is impacting water in China (www.circleofblue.org/chokepointchinia); Cooperative Competitors—research and exchanges on U.S.-China energy and climate cooperation; and, Complex Connections—meetings and research examining environmental impact of Chinese investment overseas. Jennifer also serves as editor of the Wilson Center’s journal, the China Environment Series, which is mailed to over 4,000 environmental practitioners around the world who work on China’s energy and environmental issues.

Host
John Milewski is the executive producer and managing editor of Wilson Center NOW and also serves as director of Wilson Center ON DEMAND digital programming. Previously he served as host and producer of Dialogue at the Wilson Center and Close Up on C-SPAN. He also teaches a course on politics and media for Penn State’s Washington Program