Zhejiang University Professor co-pens 10 essential climate science insights for 2022 presented at COP27
The UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) took place from November 6 to November 18 in Egypt. At the press conference on November 10, Simon Stiell, executive secretary of the UN Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), unveiled the annual 10 New Insights in Climate Science (10NICS) to the UN climate change negotiations. Sixty-five leading scientists from around the world reviewed the most pressing findings in climate change-related research. This annual update received extensive media coverage and captured enormous public attention.
The making of this report has been led by Future Earth, The Earth League and the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP). 10NICS responds to clear calls for policy guidance during this climate-critical decade. In the report, the authors emphasize and unpack the complex interactions between climate change and other drivers of risk, such as conflicts, pandemics, food crises and underlying development challenges.
Prof. ZHAO Zhirong from Zhejiang University, Prof. Aaron Maltais from Sweden’s Stockholm Environment Institute in Sweden and Prof. Kim Schumacher from Japan’s Kyushu University co-authored Insight 7: Private sustainable finance practices are failing to catalyse deep transitions.
Sustainable finance has been one of the key research areas since Prof. ZHAO Zhirong joined the Zhejiang University community in 2021. Global climate governance, such as the realization of China’s dual carbon goals and the construction of China’s ecological civilization, calls for cross-departmental collaboration, including green finance practices. According to the universal international practice, private consortia and large investment institutions are expected to take the initiative in allocating capital in ways that would provide the most impact on combating climate change. However, private sector “sustainable finance” practices are not yet catalyzing the profound and rapid transformations needed to meet climate targets. Policymakers thus need to develop climate policy measures, such as carbon prices and taxes, minimum standards, and support measures for low-carbon solutions.
Among the leading scientists, Prof. Zhao is the only one from the Chinese mainland. “I am immensely honored to be one of the authors of 10NICS”, said Prof. Zhao. China is in the lead globally in green finance, particularly in terms of policy incentives and local innovation. Prof. Zhao has a dream that with such innovative explorations in green finance, China will not only translate climate challenge into practice but also play a positive leading role in the world.