The Hopkins-Nanjing Council is a very distinguished group of individuals who provide advice and guidance – and considerable support! – to the operations and overall development of the Hopkins-Nanjing Center…. and in early June, a 12-member delegation came to China to learn about the country’s energy/environment situation, and to find out how our new ERE program was progressing. Dr. John Lipsky — former Chief Economist at Salomon Brothers, J.P. Morgan & Chase, who recently headed the IMF during the period between DSK & Christine Lagarde – is Honorary Chair of the Council, and led the delegation. It also included Dr. Jill McGovern, wife of the late, long-serving President of Johns Hopkins University, Steven Muller (the founding father of the Center back in 1986); and numerous other illustrious U.S. & Chinese business, philanthropic, and academic individuals.

We started in Beijing, meeting with senior officials at the Ministry of Environment; exploring one of China’s seven pilot emissions trading projects at the China Beijing Environment Exchange; discussing recent air quality/climate technical reports & outreach efforts by the Paulson Institute; and seeing some of the new technology and software packages coming out of the Microsoft One research center. Another fascinating stop was Parkview Green – the first mixed-use commercial project in China certified as ‘LEED®-platinum.’ LEED is a well-known green building standard, and Parkview Green – built by the Hong Kong-based property developer & art collector George Wong — has quite a stunning design. It is especially unique in integrating modern art — galleries, exhibitions, and all kinds of set art pieces (including some 40 works of Salvador Dali) – throughout.

Parkview Green

The next stop was Nanjing, where Council members had a chance to meet HNC students, and to attend one of my ERE classes. One ERE student group made a presentation about their visits to Beijing and Delhi, India last March (supported by the Starr Foundation & ExxonMobil) to scope out the positions of China and India in the upcoming COP 21 meeting in Paris. In the classroom session, students discussed the recent (and very controversial!) Ecomodernist Manifesto — including its potential applicability in a number of major countries around the world, and comparisons with Deep Decarbonization options in those same countries.

The final stop was Shanghai, where we toured Honeywell’s research facility, and also met up with the Nicobar Group – a small technical company working in China’s nuclear industry. We wrapped up at Three on the Bund, where Dr. Lipsky made a Hopkins China Forum presentation about the UNEP Finance Initiative’s efforts to ‘green’ the financial system in China. Dr. Lipsky is a member of the Advisory Council for UNEP FI’s Inquiry into the Design of a Sustainable Financial System, and his presentation covered a recent report specifically focusing on financial measures in China. [And a special shout out to Hugh Sullivan & Emily Spencer in DC, who coordinated this venture!]