On May 16, Project Pengyou hosted the China Carbon Forum and the Center for Sustainability in Shanghai who brought a crew of 25 students from the California State University Maritime Academy (Cal Maritime) in San Francisco.The students were all on their first trip to China, and have been traveling around exploring issues of sustainability in China. Beijing was the last stop on the 3 week trip, and we were glad to be able to show them a little Beijing hutong hospitality while they learned about China’s evolving carbon markets from Peter Edwards and Huw Slater of the China Carbon Forum.

Peter and Huw shared insights into the emissions trading system (ETS) through their 2015 “China Carbon Pricing Survey” they conducted which shows how China is piloting the new policy in 6 cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Chongqing). Although it will likely take years to perfect, it’s heartening that the trend seems to be one of long term solutions and plans to address climate change overall rather than just isolated incidents of air pollution.

After hearing Project Pengyou Executive Director, Alyssa Farrelly, speak a bit about what Project Pengoyu does, the audience was curious about how our individual journeys brought us to China. We each shared a bit of our stories, the common theme being that although we didn’t expect to end up where we are today, our experiences in China have molded all of us and hugely impacted our careers. The students were happy to hear about the multitude of opportunities in China and to learn more about the careers of the speakers. We look forward to hosting additional informative sessions like this in the future!