In early March I was elected Vice President of PACE, the Professional Association for China’s Environment, an NGO providing a network for environmental & other professionals dedicated to improving China’s environment.  Dr. Gong Yuyang is President of this organization, and he arranged a dinner meeting with several PACE Board members during my Beijing trip (see previous posting), including Dr. Wang Jinnan, VP of the China Academy of Environmental Planning and an expert in the country’s SO2 trading efforts. It turned out that several Board members (including Dr. Wang) had worked on my first UN project in China at CRAES (the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences) back in 1990! It was certainly great to see catch up on things, & thanks much to Dr. Gong for his ongoing efforts for this organization.

Another PACE Board member, Prof. Zhang Shiqiu – Deputy Dean of Peking University’s College of Environmental Sciences & Engineering — invited me to make a presentation about the China ”leapfrog” emissions trading scheme (described several postings below) at her university.  Shiqiu & I had worked together in the 1990s on UN urban projects in China, & I had most recently seen her last May in Singapore (she’s standing directly in front of me in that Singapore posting picture, the fourth person from the right in the front row). I was certainly happy to do so — she knows that I always enjoy my visits to Beida! — and from the questions I received it is apparent that she has a very bright young group of students studying with her right now.