California plays bridging role in boosting relationship

California greening

Zhang Jianyu, executive director of the BRI Green Development Institute and a veteran in China's environmental protection sector, believes green cooperation between California, which has long been a pioneer in US environmental protection, and China dates back to 1998.

That year, California Environmental Protection Agency officials paid a visit to China to look at cooperation over development of the circular economy, he said, referring to the model which focuses on reducing, reusing and recycling products.

Zhang also recalled a visit in 2013 by Mary Nichols, then chair of the California Air Resources Board, to Shenzhen, Guangdong province, to attend the inauguration ceremony for China's first emissions trading system.

During her visit, Nichols and Xu Anliang, then head of Shenzhen Development and Reform Commission, signed a memorandum of understanding, vowing to share policy design and early experiences from their carbon emissions trading programs.