China’s Methane Mitigation in the Era of Climate Boiling: A Green Tea Chat with Dr. Hu Tao

As the era of climate boiling arrives, urgency to rein in methane emissions increases. Like other super climate pollutants, methane heats the earth faster than carbon dioxide. At the COP 26 climate talks in Glasgow, climate envoy Xie Zhenhua announced that China’s 2060 carbon neutrality target also includes reductions of these pollutants. The United States and China, the world’s top two emitters of climate super pollutants, prioritized cooperation on methane in their joint Glasgow Declaration. 

Both countries are taking independent steps to address methane—the US signed the Global Methane Pledge and China launched a National Methane Action Plan. In October 2023, China is relaunching the China Certified Emissions Reductions (CCER) scheme that could create voluntary emission trading for methane.  

As part of our Cultivating US and Chinese Climate Leadership on Food and Agriculture project, we are sitting down for a chat (over tea!) with long-time CEF friend Dr. Hu Tao (Lakestone Institute for Sustainable Development). He will talk about his unique energy transition work on methane mitigation from food waste and manure in rural and urban China. He also has his hands on the pulse of the new voluntary climate emissions trading scheme and will share how the CCER could mitigate agricultural methane. 

This webinar is part of the China Environment Forum’s Cultivating US and Chinese Climate Leadership on Food and Agriculture project.