Introducing: More Like This

Profiles of Clean Energy Leaders in China

By John Haffner

November 18, 2010

When it comes to energy and the environment, China has emerged as a contradiction. On the one side, scores of commentators have called attention to its pollution crisis and its ever-steepening trajectory of emissions. But on the other side, the last few years have also seen dramatic changes in green policy commitment and innovation at all levels of society, and the pace of this shift has taken many observers by surprise. Behind these changes are talented people—both Chinese and foreigners alike—working hard to pull China onto a cleaner path.

Over the next year I will be profiling ten of these leaders, and I hope this series will accomplish three things. First, it may provide a small portion of the recognition and encouragement clean energy pioneers in China deserve.

Second, it may convey some of the flavor of life in contemporary China. Despite growing linkages between China and the rest of the world, the country remains only dimly understood by outsiders. Perhaps this shouldn't be surprising: China is a huge place, a society with many layers and dimensions, and it is changing rapidly. In the face of this complexity, a series of ten profiles presents a very limited picture, but I hope that the diversity of these stories and the shared themes that emerge from them will help illuminate China from the perspective of people working to change it.

Third, and most importantly, I hope that these profiles will help inspire and motivate similar forms of leadership in others. An enormous scale of urbanization, infrastructure, and energy projects will be completed in the next decade. China is thus in a race against time, and urgently needs more visionaries and leaders to accelerate its shift to a greener, cleaner direction before our global carbon emissions move past the point of no return.

A number of organizations and people have contributed to the development of this series. The Joint US-China Collaboration on Clean Energy (JUCCCE), an NGO that supports efforts to accelerate the greening of China, kindly invited me to be executive-in-residence for 2009–2010. JUCCCE arranged introductions to most of the people profiled in this series and kindly arranged for volunteers to help me with interview transcriptions and translations. I would particularly like to thank JUCCCE's Shayla Yin, Elizabeth Campbell, and most of all Peggy Liu, JUCCCE's founder, for their conversations, encouragement, and past support. I will also be thanking individual transcribers and translators with the publication of each profile; their contributions have been invaluable.

Thanks also to Ian Mason, a writer and editor from Canada, for his excellent editing support. And lastly, thanks to the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, and especially Devin Stewart and Evan O'Neil, for providing a platform for publication.

These profiles were not written on behalf of any organization, and any interpretations and opinions I offer are mine alone, just as I am solely responsible for any errors. For comments, criticisms and suggestions, please feel free to write me at cleangreenchina@gmail.com. If you would like to reprint any profile in part or whole, feel free to do so—and to spread the word—while kindly observing the Carnegie Council's Creative Commons policy.

I hope you find these profiles as enjoyable to read as they were for me to research and write. I look forward to hearing from you.

John Haffner

Beijing, November 2010

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Kongjian Yu: The Art of Survival (Innovations)
Zhang Yue: A Call for Discipline in a World Out of Control (Innovations)

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