China’s recently retired special climate envoy, Xie Zhenhua, has launched a new fund dedicated to the green transition and sustainable development.
The fund is expected to help international and domestic enterprises, thinktanks, civil institutions and local governments, especially in projects to address climate change and with synergies in biodiversity conservation and pollution prevention, reported China Environmental Protection Foundation (CEPF), which will be running the fund.
CEPF is a public-funding body dedicated to environmental protection in China, under the supervision of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment. Xie Zhenhua has for decades been a leading figure in China’s climate diplomacy. The fund takes his given name, which also means “invigorating China”.
Xie hopes the Zhenhua Green Transition and Sustainable Development Fund will be “practical”, and will focus on forward-looking, innovative, and international dialogues and activities in climate change and sustainable development, especially in nurturing young talent, reported CEPF. He also emphasised mobilising support from businesses and society to create a green, open, and shared international cooperation platform, CEPF added.
The fund has just finished its first strategic advisory meeting in Beijing. That was attended by government officials, including Wang Yi, deputy director of the National Climate Change Expert Committee, and local and international partners such as Alibaba Foundation, Energy Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and Children’s Investment Fund Foundation.
CEPF says the seed money for the fund comes from Xie Zhenhua’s Nobel award money. Xie had received the SEK 500,000 (USD 477,000) award last year from the Nobel Sustainability Trust Foundation for his contributions to tackling climate change and promoting sustainable development. He pledged to donate the money to support sustainable public programmes, according to China Daily.
Read Dialogue Earth’s earlier report about Xie Zhenhua and his career.