At the recent COP21 in Paris, 1,000 cities submitted commitments to address climate change, including many Chinese cities that pledged to accelerate the adoption of greenhouse gas reduction goals to be achieved by 2020, instead of the national goal of 2030. Cities will need concrete tools to measure their progress toward these climate goals and to address urban pollution and sprawl challenges. On February 18, speakers will introduce tools being developed with Chinese partners to measure pollution and environmental quality, as well as to assess energy efficiency and performance of low-carbon infrastructure.

Debra Knopman and Zhimin Mao from RAND will discuss how RAND has worked with the Guangdong Provincial Department of Housing and Rural Development since 2011 to develop a system of quality of life indicators and identify policy options to advance sustainability in the Pearl River Delta region. Mark Ginsberg, Senior Fellow at U.S. Green Building Council and Principal of Ginsberg Green Strategies, will discuss how various LEED certification and scoring mechanisms are helping Chinese cities and professionals better measure and manage buildings and other urban systems. Abby Watrous, Senior ORISE Fellow at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), will discuss how DOE is working with the China Energy Group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to deploy low-carbon development policy and planning tools for cities across China.

Photo Credit: Shenzhen, China, courtesy of Jennifer L. Turner