China’s EnviroTech Landscape: Panel Discussion and 'Meet the Innovators'

Panel discussion on China's EnviroTech Landscape and Meet the Innovators session with four EnviroTech innovators and pioneers.

As the world’s highest carbon emitter and largest producer of renewable energy technology, China carries a significant responsibility to accelerate the global pathway to a decarbonised economy. Home to more than 60 per cent of the global renewable energy supply chain, China’s EnviroTech sector will be key for transitioning China and the world to a carbon neutral future.

While still heavily reliant on fossil fuels for its energy needs, there are many exciting innovations emerging from within China that can increase sustainability across a range of sectors.

In this session, we hear from a diverse panel, including academics, business leaders and environmental experts, to gain an insight into the latest industry innovations, policy settings and business trends that are advancing China towards a sustainable future.

Following our panel discussion, we are delighted to welcome four EnviroTech innovators and pioneers who are driving cooperation across the British and Chinese markets to introduce innovative and sustainable solutions to environmental challenges.

Our guests will have the chance to ‘Meet the Innovators’ over a networking lunch in the brand new, sustainably retrofitted Entopia Building at the Cambridge Institute of Sustainability Leadership.

This event is being held in Cambridge in partnership with the Cambridge Institute of Sustainability Leadership.

About the speakers

Welcome remarks

Clare Shine, Director and CEO, Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL)

Clare Shine is Director and CEO of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), which has partnered with leaders and innovators in business, government and finance since 1988 to foster bold leadership and drive transformational change for people, nature and climate.

Clare is a UK-qualified barrister and a member of the Santander X Innovation Advisory Committee, an Associate of the Institute for European Environmental Policy, a member of the IUCN Commission on Environmental Law and the World Commission on Protected Areas, and a professional facilitator and mediator.

Clare has been at the nexus of sustainable development, organizational change and culture for over three decades. She was previously Vice President at Salzburg Global Seminar where she worked with senior leaders, intergenerational teams and Fellows from nearly 180 countries and led multi-year programs, partnerships and networks. Under her leadership, Salzburg Global built collaborative alliances linking research, policy, business and entrepreneurial practice and launched a series of cross-border networks for bottom-up innovation.

Clare previously worked as an independent environmental lawyer and policy adviser for intergovernmental bodies, governments, business and NGOs, focusing on biodiversity and climate change, coastal and marine management, public health, governance and international trade, human rights, and conflict transformation. She has played an influential role in the evolution of regional and global policy frameworks and led multi-sector capacity-building around the world.

Clare began her career in the media and publishing industry and was the Financial Times’ theatre critic in France for ten years. She holds an M.A. in English literature from Oxford University, UK and post-graduate degrees from London University and the Sorbonne University, Paris, France.

Professor Kerry Brown, Director of the Lau China Institute, King’s College, London

Kerry Brown is Professor of Chinese Studies and Director of the Lau China Institute at King’s College, London. He is an Associate of the Asia Pacific Programme at Chatham House, London, an adjunct of the Australia New Zealand School of Government in Melbourne, and the co-editor of the Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, run from the German Institute for Global Affairs in Hamburg. He is President of the Kent Archaeological Society and an Affiliate of the Mongolia and Inner Asia Studies Unit at Cambridge University.

From 2012 to 2015 he was Professor of Chinese Politics and Director of the China Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, Australia. Prior to this he worked at Chatham House from 2006 to 2012, as Senior Fellow and then Head of the Asia Programme. From 1998 to 2005 he worked at the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, as First Secretary at the British Embassy in Beijing, and then as Head of the Indonesia, Philippine and East Timor Section. He lived in the Inner Mongolia region of China from 1994 to 1996. He has a Master of Arts from Cambridge University, a Post Graduate Diploma in Mandarin Chinese (Distinction) from Thames Valley University, London, and a PhD in Chinese politics and language from Leeds University.

Professor Brown directed the Europe China Research and Advice Network (ECRAN) giving policy advice to the European External Action Service between 2011 and 2014. He is the author of almost 20 books on modern Chinese politics, and has written for every major international news outlet, and been interviewed by every major news channel on issues relating to contemporary China.

Panelists

David Ferguson, Head of Net Zero Innovation, EDF UK

David Ferguson is a leading expert in digital innovation and strategies of sustainability. Currently the Head of Net Zero Innovation at EDF UK, David has spent over a decade working with EDF to pioneer the future of the business. Driving improvement, David has helped to ensure that the business has a comprehensive approach to sustainability, covering both practical and cultural aspects of sustainability. A highly knowledgeable individual, David specialises in digital innovation, digital strategy, climate change, organisational behaviour change, stakeholder engagement and business ethics. He graduated with a BSc in Environmental Geosciences and an MSc in Business and the Environment.

Dr Li Guo, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Lau China Institute, King’s College London

Dr Li Guo is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Lau China Institute, King’s College London. She researches comparative environmental governance in different political systems, especially at the state, public and science interface. Her research focuses on policy development and the politics of biodiversity conservation in China, particularly on issues related to nature conservation, biosafety and genetic resources.

Dr Sam Geall, CEO, China Dialogue

Dr Sam Geall is CEO of China Dialogue, Associate Fellow at Chatham House and associate faculty at the University of Sussex. His research focuses on climate policy and politics, energy transition, and environmental governance in China, as well as the impact of Chinese investment through the Belt and Road Initiative. He edited China and the Environment: The Green Revolution (Zed Books, 2013). Sam’s writing has appeared in many leading publications, including The Guardian, Financial Times, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Index on Censorship, and Nikkei Asian Review. He has been interviewed extensively by media outlets including the BBC, PRI, Al Jazeera, and Monocle 24.

Suwei Jang, Partner, PwC

Suwei Jiang is Partner, Strategic International Markets, at PwC United Kingdom. She leads the Asia Business Group in PwC UK focusing on enhancing trade & investment flows between the UK, Greater China and ASEAN countries. For the past 15 years, she also led the PwC China Business Group in the UK as well as across their European network, supporting UK/European and Chinese companies across multiple sectors in their cross-border trade and investment activities, including exports, deals & acquisitions, and capital markets transactions. She also works closely with public sector clients in relation to the government trade and investment strategies and policies, and their international development efforts in a number of regions around the world.

Moderator: Professor William Hurst, Deputy Director at the Centre for Geopolitics, Cambridge University

William Hurst is Chong Hua Professor of Chinese Development in the Department of Politics and International Studies (POLIS) and Deputy Director at the Centre for Geopolitics. Bill received his PhD in 2005 from the University of California-Berkeley and, following two years as a postdoctoral fellow at Oxford, held tenured or tenure-track posts at the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Toronto, and Northwestern University, in addition to a fellowship at Harvard University’s Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, before joining Cambridge in January 2021.

Meet the Innovators' speakers

Ting Zhang, Founder and CEO, Crayfish.io

Ting Zhang is a thought leader on UK- China trade and investment, and her expertise have been called by governments, businesses and think-tanks alike. On a daily basis, as the Founder & CEO of Crayfish.io, a digital platform helping businesses to succeed in China and beyond.

Ting holds various volunteering roles, tirelessly helping a wider community between the UK and China to better understand and engage with each other. She also leads iCAN, an international community linked by a common interest in Chinese language.

Weiwei Kou, Sustainability Director of North Asia, Unilever

Ms. Kou graduated with a master's degree in Sustainable Development Leadership from Cambridge University and a master's degree in Management from Cardiff University in the United Kingdom. She joined the green finance industry in the EU carbon trading center in London in 2007, and she is one of the earliest professionals in China to engage in this trade. She is committed to promoting the application of digital technology in the field of sustainable development. In 2021, she joined Unilever to be responsible for the Sustainability of North Asia.

Colin Tan, Director of Operation, TusPark Newcastle

Colin Tan is the Director of Operations for TusPark Newcastle, the first international TusPark fully-owned by TUS Holdings, China’s largest innovation ecosystem of over 300 bases in every major city in China. He works with TUS’s partners in the UK to help businesses, universities and governments to enter and scale-up in the Chinese market. He is also an entrepreneur, technology investor, and has helped to build tech ecosystems in the North of England as part of the Northern Powerhouse project.

Sarah Montgomery, Co-founder, Infyos

Sarah Montgomery is cofounder and CEO of Infyos, a supply chain tech startup backed by the Cambridge climate tech accelerator Carbon13 which helps battery and automotive supply chain players manage and improve sustainability. She speaks Chinese and previously built the China and Asia expansion at Everledger, the diamond supply chain technology scale-up backed by Tencent. She is part of the World Economic Forum’s Global Battery Alliance and is a Co-Head at Young China Watchers in London.

Moderator: Jie Zhou, Sino-UK Centre for Sustainability Innovation, Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL)

With 10+ years of professional experience in both Europe and Asia, Jie leads the newly established Sino-UK Centre for Sustainability Innovation at CISL. Before joining CISL, Jie spent 4.5 years working at the Ellen Macarthur Foundation where she started as a founding member helping the organisation expand into China, later she led Global Higher Education Demonstration projects in London, New York, São Paulo, and Shanghai. As ethnic minorities working in a cross-culture environment for more than a decade, she is keen to elevate Diversity Equality & Inclusion (DE&I) in the workplace and was shortlisted for the Vice-Chancellor’s Social Impact Award (2022) at the University of Cambridge.