The following press release was published earlier this month by the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) and California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA). This trip was organized by the California-China Climate Institute, which serves as the secretariat for several California-China climate agreements, and comes on the heels of Governor Gavin Newsom's trip to China, which the Institute also helped plan and support.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: The secretaries of the California Environmental Protection Agency and California State Transportation Agency visited China to make progress on key climate and clean transportation priorities, including finalizing workplans for two of California’s MOUs with Chinese provinces and municipalities.
SACRAMENTO – California Secretary for Environmental Protection Yana Garcia and California Transportation Secretary Toks Omishakin recently visited Shanghai, Hong Kong, and the Chinese provinces of Guangdong and Hainan to advance critical subnational partnerships on climate and identify additional opportunities for collaboration and shared learning.
The trip built on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s visit in October 2023, when California signed five memorandums of understanding (MOUs) that strengthen California’s work with China on climate action and set the stage for more subnational discussions and cooperation.
“Building on California and China’s long history of climate cooperation has never been more important as we all continue to face the growing impacts of climate change. Partnership at all levels of government is critical to protecting our communities from extreme weather and pollution,” said Secretary Garcia. “With our colleagues in China we are continuing to accelerate the deployment of nature-based solutions to capture carbon and improve community resilience, cut pollution from the transportation and goods movement sectors, and catalyze investment in the circular economy. No country or state is in this alone. Visits like these provide opportunities for shared learning and people-to-people partnership vital to achieving California’s world-leading climate goals.”
“Transportation is all about strengthening connections, and that was a big part of this trip to China,” said Secretary Omishakin. “From touring the world’s largest seaport to gaining insight on battery swapping technology for electric vehicles to sharing ideas and best practices with high-ranking Chinese officials, we continue to build upon the trans-Pacific relationships developed by Governor Newsom to help maintain and grow California’s standing as a world leader in clean transportation.”
Highlights from the March 2024 trip:
The secretaries finalized the 2024 implementation workplans for two of California’s MOUs with Chinese governments:
Shanghai MOU,PDF download signed in October 2023 in Shanghai: Declares California and Shanghai’s plan to build on the green shipping corridors between Shanghai and the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, and to exploring joint action on air quality, greenhouse gas emissions reductions, clean energy, climate adaptation and resilience, and nature-based climate solutions.
Hainan MOU,PDF download signed in August 2023 in Sacramento: Outlines five areas of cooperation between California and Hainan – cutting air pollution, developing and implementing climate adaptation and carbon neutrality plans, advancing clean energy, accelerating zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) and driving nature-based solutions.
The secretaries visited several sites in China that exemplified work underway on transportation decarbonization, nature-based solutions and the circular economy, including a pilot project to reduce methane emissions from rice cultivation at Shanghai’s Qingpu Agriculture Park; a vehicle battery swapping station in Hainan that support’s efforts to decarbonize heavy-duty trucks operating at a cement factory; a mangrove forest at Dongzhai Port Wetland Reserve, where Hainan is deploying nature-based solutions to build resilience and tackle the climate crisis; and an electric vehicle battery recycling company, Jiecheng New Energy Company in Shenzhen.
The secretaries participated in collaborative dialogues with government leaders in Shanghai, Hainan and Guangdong on green shipping corridors, port decarbonization, sustainable transportation, air quality, methane, circular economy, carbon markets, adaptation and natured-based solutions.
Moving forward, California will continue to advance efforts with its national, provincial and municipal partners in China, including to enhance collaboration between the San Francisco Bay Area and China’s Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area.
California’s world-leading climate policies have led the state to exceed its 2020 emissions reduction target four years ahead of schedule and created partnerships across the U.S. and around the world. California currently has over 40 memorandums of understanding with countries on all continents except Antarctica.