(Originally published on 03/20/2015)

Today, Christophe Bahuet, Country Director of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) China, met with Pan Jiahua, Director-General of the Sustainable Development Center in Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) to agree on a new partnership, initially focused on urbanization and climate change. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between UNDP and CASS. 

Mr. Bahuet and Prof. Pan exchanged views on latest development issues in China and the role of think tanks in providing practical policy advice to all levels of government, especially in response to the challenges of urbanization and climate change. “With 15 million people moving to cities every year, they all need places to stay, and access to urban services such as hospitals and schools,” said Prof. Pan. “The building sector contributes 40 percent to carbon emissions world-wide. This is a really fundamental area for sustainability and quality of living.” Mr. Bahuet added that “it will be critical in the coming years to continue to make the linkages between the environment and urbanization.”

Based on the discussion, it was agreed that both parties continued to share many similar objectives and hence should launch a more formal partnership with each other. In particular the new partnership could support China’s human development to achieve Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), assist China in environment protection and address climate change, promote sustainable urban development and urbanization, as well as contribute to South-South cooperation between China and other developing countries.

UNDP and CASS have been collaborating on specific issues and results for many years, including most recently on the 2013 National Human Development Report on Sustainable and Liveable Cities: Towards Ecological Civilization.Future partnership will build on these past successes.