In light of the unprecedented number of concurrent Special Policy Studies (SPS) projects actively ongoing in the 2019-2020 research season, and considering the pivotal importance of CCICED's research work to China's and global environmental governance, on February 18th, 2020, CCICED Secretariat organized a Dialogue to Foster Synergies Among SPS Teams. Due to the recent outbreak of the COVID-19 virus, the Dialogue took place in the form of a virtual conference, and was attended by over 80 participants from more than 30 partnering organizations, including 7 Council Members, 5 Special Advisors, and 15 Team Leaders and many core experts representing all of the 10 SPS teams.

Mr. LI Yonghong, Assistant Secretariat General of CCICED, and Mr. ZHANG Huiyong, Director of the CCICED Secretariat, jointly chaired the meeting.

In their opening remarks, CCICED's Chief Advisors Mr. LIU Shijin and Mr. Scott Vaughan outlined two primary goals for the meeting: aligning the research progress of the SPS teams and encouraging high quality and practical policy recommendations, not only for the May AGM, but also for the 14th Five-Year Plan.

The meeting was structured into five sections, each focusing on a crosscutting theme emerged from the ongoing SPS researches.

Theme 1

Climate Mitigation / Low-Carbon Transition / Green Technologies

Mr. ZOU Ji, International Co-Leader of SPS on Global Climate Governance and China's Role, shared current research focuses for this SPS: (1) defining China's role in global climate governance;(2)shaping joint-global climate leadership; and (3)analyzing Southeast Asia's power infrastructure development with a lens of greening the Belt and Road Initiative. In this context, the policy recommendations of the SPS will primarily focus on developing strategies, especially those relating to 14th Five Year Plan, NDC target update, Mid-Century Strategy, energy transition and China-Europe cooperation and joint leadership.

Mr. James Pennington, International Core Expert of SPS on Green Technology Innovation, introduced the work of this newly established SPS which focuses on technologies that can address green development problems and challenges facing cities and how to scale up the technologies in urban centers. On one hand, the SPS takes a both vertical approach, focusing on six sectors: water, energy, transportation, infrastructure, land-use and food. One the other hand,the SPS will also focus on some horizontal linkages affecting urban design such as fourth industrial revolution, data governance, circular economy, etc. In this context, Mr. Pennington highlighted potential synergies between this SPS with the SPS teams on green urbanization, green BRI and biodiversity.

Theme 2

Green BRI

Mr. Kevin Gallagher, International Co-Leader of SPS on Green Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and 2030 SDGS, shared the SPS' current research focus on the relationship between BRI and biodiversity, especially on life on land (SDG15). While the Chinese team examines domestic national policies for best practices in biodiversity with emphasis on the ecological red-line, the international team focuses on best practices and standards from international development finance institutions for overseas investment. The recommendations of the SPS will focus on the development of a set of BRI-related standards for biodiversity as well as governance and financing mechanisms to implement and monitor the standards. To this end, Mr. Gallagher stressed importance of coordination and policy coherence among different ministries in China, as well as between China and host countries.

Mr. Jan-Gunnar Winther, International Co-Leader of SPS on Global Ocean Governance and Ecological Civilization, pointed out the two research focuses of this SPS:(1) protection of the marine environment, and (2) production and use of marine resources and blue economy, as well as the importance of striking the balance between the two. In this regard, Mr. Winther pointed out the clear synergies between the Ocean SPS with other SPS teams such as climate, BRI, biodiversity, finance, etc.

Theme 3

Financial Standards and Safeguards

Noting the primary focus of this newly established SPS being conservation finance, Ms. Sagarika Chatterjee, International Co-Leader of SPS on Green Finance, shared three recommendation areas for the research: (1) optimal use of policy and market instruments to increase the financial flow to encourage wise use of natural resources, (2) policy and legislative reforms that are needed to discourage action that undermines nature, and (3) enabling governance and institutional framework. She further noted the potential synergies with other SPS teams in the area of financial reporting standards. Mr. Junjie Zhang, the Chinese Co-leader of the SPS, also noted that as the team is looking into options to mobilize more private sector in conservation financing, strong synergies can be found with the work of the SPS on Green BRI given the biodiversity impact of the Belt and Road Initiative.

Theme 4

Green Supply Chains and Green Consumption

Looking at the SPS' strong focus on soft commodities (soy, palm oil, timber and beef), Mr. Manish Bapna, International Team Leader of SPS on Global Green Value Supply Chain, readily identified synergies with SPS teams working on biodiversity, climate and BRI. As sustainable sourcing of these soft commodities lies at the heart of tackling biodiversity, and also critical to reducing emissions from land use change related to climate, this SPS will present financial and economic analysis in persuading China and the world shifting towards this transition and will provide practical pathways on how to achieve this. In this regard, Mr. Bapna reemphasized the importance of the "whole-of-government" approach as well as the importance of international dialogues.

Mr. ZHANG Jianyu, International Co-Leader of SPS on Green Transition and Sustainable Social Governance, shared that the SPS structured its research around general policy framework, developing and monitoring indicators, and looking at relationship between sustainable consumption and high quality development, with a goal to promote green consumption in the 14th Five Year Plan period and beyond. In this context, the SPS also looking at capacity building and international cooperation. Furthermore, the SPS also started looking at the change of consumption patterns caused by the public health event such as the recent COVID-19 outbreak and its potential impact on environment, climate, biodiversity, etc.

Theme 5

Biodiversity / Natural Capital / Large Scale Spatial Planning

Mr. Art Hanson, International Co-Leader of SPS on Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Conservation, shared the three focus research areas of the SPS Post-2020 to be biodiversity framework, political engagement and mobilization and eco-civilization driven thinking showcasing China's best practice. Mr. Hanson also emphasized the nature-based solutions as a clear cross-cutting research area between the SPS on biodiversity and the SPS on Eco-Compensation in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, especially given Yangtze River's role as a natural capital laboratory. Similarly, ecological redlining and large-scale spatial planning are also two pertinent issues linking the two SPS teams. Mr. Hanson further echoed the previous speakers' comments on public health, which is closely linked to the research on biodiversity as well as on sustainable production and consumption.