While the primary audience for CCICED is the State Council at high levels, by no means is it intended to be the only recipient of its advice. Furthermore, now that the E&D subject matter is well entrenched in many circles throughout China, it is important to be listening to perspectives that can help shape CCICED’s own work. Especially over the past 5–10 years, CCICED has placed emphasis on strategic outreach efforts. This has taken a variety of forms.

For example, CCICED has strengthened its relationships with funding partners, bringing them more directly into research and outreach efforts. For example, a large number of CCICED AGM Open Forums have been organized with the assistance of funding partners. With live streaming, these sessions can be followed by audiences both inside and outside of China. Most are directly related to contemporary CCICED research themes and therefore offer new perspectives to our researchers, as well informing audiences.

In recent years, CCICED also has given more attention to expanding its range of contacts and partnerships. This point is noted on CCICED.eco:

CCICED upholds the values of diversity, inclusiveness and sharing. It aspires to a balance in gender, region, and nationality and areas of expertise, and will increasingly involve youth, the private sector, and civil society in its research and activities.

These are not new ideas for CCICED, but it has taken a long time for them to fully take hold. During the coming 7th Phase of CCICED, it is anticipated that good progress will be made.

With China and the rest of the world now emphasizing the need for E&D to be mainstreamed across the full range of societal decisions, the need for many more input sources is clear. Understanding and building on linkages and synergies, as noted in other parts of CCICED at 30, is critical. This point is underlined by environmental linkages and associated opportunities for a green recovery from COVID-19.

The funding and creativity of enterprises must be fully tapped. In keeping with the 2012 UN global call for “The World We Want” and the aspirations of the UN 2030 SDGs, CCICED must work hard to be relevant to the whole of society and use these efforts to be even more relevant to its main sponsor: China’s State Council.

CCICED-European Union Roundtable Partnerships

CCICED and the European Union (EU) have enjoyed a long and productive relationship with the participation of European Commission (EC) senior staff as CCICED members, presence on CCICED research initiatives, and discussions on topics of mutual interest such as green development, trade and supply chains, environmental protection, and climate change. In May 2016, a roundtable was held in Brussels on the sharing economy as a contributor to green development. The meeting was co-chaired by the EC DG of Environment and China’s Environment Minister, Mr. Chen Jining. Participants included the CEO of Uber and Head of Global Operations from Airbnb. This meeting was followed up with an Open Forum on the same subject at the 2016 CCICED AGM, which introduced some very successful cases from China’s entrepreneurial sharing economy.

Another CCICED-EU roundtable in Brussels took place in June 2018, examining Synergies for Improving Performance on Global Environment and Development Agreements. Three questions were posed: (1) How to enable synergies to achieve global goals and targets in a more timely and comprehensive fashion? (2) How could China play a greater and sometimes leading role in bringing about improved global E&D governance? And (3) What are some priorities for action to improve synergies in the coming years, first to 2020 and then over longer time frames? The meeting focused on three SPSs covered by CCICED’s TF on Global Governance and Ecological Civilization: Global Climate Governance and China’s Role; Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Conservation; and Global Ocean Governance and Ecological Civilization. The meeting was chaired by Mr. Xie Zhenhua and Ms. Catherine McKenna and included the participation of Frans Timmermans, the EC’s First Vice President, plus more than two dozen high-level experts associated with CCICED activities and others.

Business Sector Partnerships

Individuals with well-earned senior business credentials have served as members in each of CCICED’s six phases. They have always been in the minority on both Chinese and international sides. The same is true for participants in research teams. There has been an under-representation of SMEs, the young entrepreneurs who have shaped much of the innovation in China’s and international business, and those involved in break-through investments for the circular economy, the sharing economy, and booming fields such as eco-tourism. One of the strongest proponents for addressing these shortcomings has been Mr. John Forgách, a private entrepreneur, banker, and dedicated environmentalist from Brazil. He was a member of CCICED during Phases IV and V and served along with Mr. Pan Jihua as a Co-Chair of the 2011 CCICED TF on Trade, Investment and Environment.Footnote 1 At the time, this TF was unique in that it included extensive interviews and field visits with business leaders, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and officials in three developing countries with extensive Chinese investments.

CCICED has built solid working relationships with some global business sustainable development organizations, notably the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and its Chinese affiliate, the CBCSD, formed in 2003. These relationships were facilitated by Mr. Björn Stigson, who played a very active role in CCICED as a member during Phases II–IV (1997–2011). This period was the time of China’s transition to a major industrial and manufacturing country when the scale of operations of businesses such as refineries and steel grew immensely. CCICED activities regarding eco-efficiency, low-carbon industrialization, growth of the heavy chemical industry, environmental assessments, and the location of industrial operations were very important topics. The relationship with WBCSD has continued with Mr. Peter Bakker from 2012 to the present, and new topics emerged, including CSR and reporting, environmental risk management, green technology innovations, and, more recently, the leadership roles for industry in green development. CCICED has participated actively in studies in all of these fields and continues to work closely with both CBCSD and WBCSD. It is particularly useful to draw upon the networks of such organizations to explore specific themes. An example is a major CCICED meeting in April 2021 with cooperation from WBCSD on examining biodiversity and climate change.Footnote 2 This session involved WBCSD members, China’s MEE Minister, and various members of CCICED and its SPSs.

In recent years, CCICED has cooperated with the WEF. The working relationships have been created through various channels, including with present and former CCICED members, with the CCICED Secretariat, and with linkages extending to various research teams. WEF has held major Summer Meetings in China for several years. CCICED has co-organized E&D sessions in some. Since 2017, the relationship has been formalized with a Memorandum of Understanding. The collaboration will explore how circular and sharing-economy models can create a more resource-efficient society in China and will also focus on other areas, including oceans, the potential of new technologies for the environment, and climate change. In senior-level discussions and recommendations during 2007–2009, CCICED promoted a law for circular economy and its full implementation. Dame Ellen MacArthur, a strong supporter of circular economy, indicated: “In 2009, China was the first country to adopt circular-economy legislation…Today’s announced collaboration between the Chinese government and the World Economic Forum, which is committed to accelerating the transition to a circular economy, sends a very strong signal of the importance of this topic and its take-up globally.”Footnote 3 One of WEF’s recent contributions to CCICED has been a 2020 White Paper for CCICED’s SPS on Major Green Technologies.Footnote 4

International and Chinese Research Organizations and Connections

So many organizations have been involved on CCICED research teams that it is difficult to include a list or highlight even just a few without worrying about which ones might be accidentally left out! They are the engine of CCICED’s mainstay activities. Not only do they contribute immense amounts of their own staff time working collegially to design and carry out initiatives, but they also help in the selection of research team members and arrange field trips and teams within and outside of China. They also search for additional funds and liaise with others, such as sponsoring bodies, others interested in the research activity, and with the CCICED Secretariat, including SISO Secretariat, Chief Advisors, and CCICED members.

Another group of individuals who often bear heavy responsibilities but receive limited credit for their efforts are the China-based liaison officers and representatives from organizations, embassies and home offices of donors, other international organizations, corporations, etc. Often, such individuals have assisted CCICED in managing complex issues, such as ensuring funding flows are smooth, arranging meetings, taking an active role in research activities, finding relevant experts, etc. Some have lived for years or even decades in China or have worked on the China file in home offices for long periods. They have been welcome partners and sometimes are indispensable to CCICED’s work.

The full value of the contributions from all of these sources, Chinese and international, cannot be computed only in monetary terms, or even in terms of their “in-kind contribution.” Both institutionally and individually, it can only be measured through the level of enthusiasm brought to the task and, at its best, the lasting professional and personal understandings and relationships that frequently are formed.

A characteristic required for most CCICED work is the need not only for science-based knowledge but also the transfer of that knowledge into forms useful to policymakers. Furthermore, crosscutting issues abound (as noted in Box 4.7). Therefore, in almost all CCICED studies and in the preparation of recommendations, there is a need for synthesis involving many types of findings and results. This is perhaps the most difficult of our undertakings. We have turned to recognized specialists and institutions with advanced skills in this area. It is a skill expected of CCICED’s Chief Advisors and those who work with them, also of many of our CCICED members and many of the research team leaders.

It also is necessary to be well versed in the “political science” of current E&D issues and to have a good sense of trends well into the future. This applies not only to matters within China but also to regional and globalized situations. CCICED’s strength is that it has so many channels through which such information can be acquired. Also, over these past decades, the world has come to China. A CCICED AGM brings together not dozens but hundreds of well-informed people focused on a set of issues of common concern. And at international gatherings within and outside of China, there are good exchanges, occasionally with special CCICED events.

CCICED’s networks are constantly expanding and changing and are therefore requiring management attention. Sometimes it is difficult to let go of topics in order to tackle new subjects or to try for new perspectives over old ones. CCICED’s Phases, which are matched to the cycle of China’s FYPs, is helpful in this regard.

CCICED AGM Open Forums

During CCICED Phases V and VI, an important reform has been the introduction of Open Forums, generally occupying up to a day of meetings linked to the specific AGM theme. Several such sessions, co-organized by individual CCICED research teams and partners, provide for presentations and extensive discussion involving individual CCICED members, relevant experts, and others. Each Open Forum is kept to a reasonable size at the venue, but with an online opportunity to follow the discussions. This effort has been very successful. The conclusions and suggestions are reported to the AGM and can find their way into the formal recommendations as appropriate. The sessions also are of value for planning future CCICED work programs and for providing insights into crosscutting themes such as those noted earlier in Box 4.7.

At the 2018 CCICED AGM, with the support of the Energy Foundation China, Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), and the Institutes of Science and Development of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CASISD), an Open Forum on Addressing Climate Change by Innovating Development Pathways was held. It addressed both low-carbon pathways and the role of institutional innovation in climate change governance. What is instructive is the broad range of speakers and discussants, all with major links to CCICED either as Council Members or involved in research on this theme. They included:

Two Vice Chairs of the CCICED—Xie Zhenhua, China’s Special Representative for Climate Change Affairs, and Achim Steiner, UNDP Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme [who]co-hosted and addressed the open forum. The event witnessed participation and discussion by many leading experts in the field, including Wang Yi, member of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress and Vice President of the CASISD; He Jiankun, Director of the Academic Committee of the Institute of Climate Change and Sustainable Development at Tsinghua University and former Executive Vice President of Tsinghua University; He Kebin, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Dean of the School of Environment at Tsinghua University; Zou Ji, President of Energy Foundation China; Kate Hampton, CEO of the CIFF; Jonathan Pershing, Program Director of Environment at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and former Special Envoy for Climate Change at the U.S. Department of State; and Laurence Tubiana, CEO of the European Climate Foundation.Footnote 5

Being able to call upon such a range of expertise is a strength of CCICED activities. The results of this initiative were then incorporated into the work of CCICED’s SPS on Climate Change.

CCICED Business Roundtables

Each year since 2008, CCICED has held one or more business roundtables, generally on a topic closely related to the AGM and/or specific research activities. They are considered community events and are therefore held in different cities. The keynote and panel presenters bring together people from business backgrounds, local administrators such as governors and mayors, CCICED leaders, and researchers to focus on topics of high relevance to the local or regional audience. Some are held as partnership events, such as the 2020 ocean event with the WEF and a 2016 green finance event with the China Executive Leadership Academy in Pudong.

The range of CCICED roundtable meetings held during CCICED Phase VI include the following:

  • 2021 Synergies between Pollution Control and Carbon Emission Reduction. Coordinated governance of pollution control, carbon emissions reduction, and ecological improvement; possible pathways and challenges in early peaking; good practices in the Yangtze River Delta region in promoting ecological and environmental protection together with economic development. (Suzhou and virtual)

  • 2020 Economic Opportunities for Blue Investment. Key areas of ocean economy development for the 14th FYP; investment opportunities for the blue economy; best practices of corporate ocean responsibility (Beijing and virtual)

  • 2020 Innovative Cities and Greater Bay Area Green Development. (Shenzhen)

  • 2018 Innovation and Green Development (Changsha)

  • 2016 Promoting Green Finance and Supporting Local Development (Shanghai).

One of the most interesting CCICED roundtable events was the first, held in April 2007 in Beijing. It was not designed for business but for the specific purpose of introducing the low-carbon economy as an important topic for China. The distinguished speakers included Mr. John Prescott, Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, R. K. Pachauri, IPCC Chair, Ms. Linda Adams, Secretary of California’s EPA, and numerous high-ranking, mainly European politicians and others, plus key experts from China. The meeting was the brainchild of Mr. Børge Brende, CCICED member, who was also, at the time, a Norwegian politician, and Mr. Zhu Guangyao, the CCICED Secretary-General. Some of the important foreign guests were self-invited, as they felt the meeting would be vital for advancing interest in the topic. It was a tumultuous event, as there was no agreement, especially on the Chinese side, about how important this topic was likely to be in the future and how it might affect China’s economy. Within a few years, the low-carbon economy became one of the most significant topics in China, attracting widespread public attention. This one-day roundtable “energized” CCICED’s interest in taking on a leadership role in this field.