Xi Xi is a Master’s student for the Energy Resource group. Xi Xi uses interdisciplinary methods such as quantitative modeling techniques and policy analyses to assess impacts on emissions, energy use, and other socio-economic indicators. Xi Xi looks forward to applying her knowledge in the context of international development. Xi Xi would also like to study how developing countries may be affected by or benefit from tensions between China and the West related to China’s emerging role in international development and international climate politics.
In RAEl she is researching US-China climate policy, decarbonization in Africa, and China’s role in Africa, among other topics.
Prior to joining ERG, Xi Xi earned a BA from Wellesley College. Xi Xi has worked for the Institute for Global Decarbonization Progress (iGDP), Abt, and the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC).
Xi Xi also enjoys traveling in their free time.
Ari Ball-Burack is a first year PhD student in the Energy & Resources Group at the University of California, Berkeley, advised by Dr. Dan Kammen. He studies data and computational tools to inform effective decarbonization policy. Specifically, he is interested in incorporating key complexities such as justice and equity, behaviorally realistic decision-making, and technological innovation in energy policy decision support tools. His current research investigates decarbonization policy interactions at the national and global levels, distributional equity in electric vehicle charging infrastructure, and representations of consumer adoption in multi-sector energy system models.
Ari graduated from Williams College, where he studied Computer Science and Physics, and received MPhil degrees in Advanced Computer Science and Environmental Policy from the University of Cambridge. Prior to joining ERG, he worked as a researcher at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership. Ari enjoys running, playing music, and quality time with loved ones (ideally in nature).
New analysis from University of California, Berkeley researchers finds that China is the only nation on track to triple its renewable capacity by 2030, a key goal for limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Amid continuing geopolitical tensions, climate change remains a key area of collaboration between the United States and China. Ahead of last November’s United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), Presidents Biden and Xi reaffirmed their commitment to work jointly—and together with other countries—to address the climate crisis and limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Central to the agreement, now known as the “Sunnylands Statement,” is a commitment to supporting efforts to triple the global production of renewable energy by 2030. That goal, which is the only quantitative target in the agreement, was previously identified as a key target by the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IREA) and agreed to by G20 leaders during their September 2023 meeting.
A study published today in Environmental Research Letters by UC Berkeley researchers finds that the global growth rate of renewable and low-carbon energy capacity is insufficient to meet this target. Using historical data from IRENA and the IEA, the authors project that China is by far the closest to triple its capacity by 2030, while the five remaining regions—the U.S., European Union, the African continent, Central and South America, and the rest of the world—will fall short.
“The climate crisis is now an emergency of inaction on a true energy transition,” said co-author Daniel Kammen, the James and Katherine Lau Distinguished Professor of Sustainability in the Energy and Resources Group (ERG), the Goldman School of Public Policy, and the Department of Nuclear Engineering. “While some specific policies and the actions of some nations show that a clean, green energy future can be achieved, we must be more systematic, holistic, and aggressive in our actions.”
China’s renewable energy capacity tripled during the last decade, a historic trend projected to continue through 2030. While developers of renewable energy projects in China may face difficulty securing financing and integrating their projects onto the grid, the country regularly surpasses its conservative targets and is more capable of leveraging other policies to facilitate necessary growth.
By comparison, the U.S. would need to significantly raise its renewable ambitions to achieve this target. The authors point to the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which authorized $369 billion in new government spending on clean energy and climate mitigation over the next decade, as one successful policy intervention capable of bringing the U.S. closer to its target. While they estimate that IRA-linked renewable energy projects will increase the domestic renewable energy capacity by a factor of 2 or 3, the U.S. would need to more than quadruple current projections to meet its stated targets.
“It’s heartening to see the exponential deployment of the past decade, and 2023 saw by far the biggest gains yet,” said co-author Ari Ball-Burack, a PhD student in ERG. “Moving forward, the U.S. and China have a responsibility to concretely facilitate renewables deployment worldwide.”
Co-author Xi Xi, a graduate student in ERG, notes that the greatest challenge the U.S. and China face will be facilitating and supporting efforts toward tripling renewable energy capacity elsewhere. Renewable energy deployment and power sector expansion are crucial to Africa’s sustainable development goals, yet so much of the continent’s energy development has been historically under-invested. The IEA estimates that more than $200 billion per year of investment by 2030 is required to achieve key energy goals and facilitate a just and inclusive climate transition. Comparable levels of investment are also needed in Central and South America and across the rest of the world.
“The U.S. and China operate within a global context and must proactively acknowledge and incorporate global perspectives, particularly from the Global South, and actively contribute to climate mitigation efforts worldwide,” she said.
The researchers assert that although the two countries’ joint declaration sets an optimistic framework with which to build lasting international climate cooperation, much work remains to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. They propose four actionable steps to ensure the Sunnylands tripling commitment is met:
- The commitments must transform into delivered funds, with actionable plans to assemble and distribute funds committed to addressing challenges of climate mitigation and adaptation.
- Subnational and informal collaborations between the two countries and the rest of the world should accelerate technology and knowledge transfer to provide appropriate, effective, and efficient solutions.
- The two countries should prioritize collaboration over competition. A competitive mindset could hinder the development of globalized supply chains, significantly increasing renewables costs.
- Fostering an inclusive and collaborative climate discourse internationally is crucial for a speedy, just transition toward the net zero world and can facilitate and accelerate reforms in multilateral institutions to ensure just and viable institutional and financial mechanisms for renewables development in the Global South.
Read the full analysis in Environmental Research Letters
Guangyu joins us for a year from North China Electric Power University, where he has already worked on clean energy markets and wind energy forecasting.
At RAEL (and LBL) he will be working on aggressive decarbonization pathways for China, and the expansion of clean energy services in heavy industry.
His recent paper on day-ahead wind forecasting is available on the RAEL publications pages. To take a look, click here.
Send him note and welcome & get to know Guangyu!
Bo is a doctoral student in Electrical Engineering at Chongqing University. His work is focused on the integration of renewable energy and of electric vehicle fleets into the Chinese power grid.
Natalie is an Energy Engineering (https://engineeringscience.berkeley.edu/energy-engineering/) major at UC Berkeley. Her studies focus on integrating power system analysis with data science, optimizing resource use and studying the outlook of renewable technology adoption in various parts of the world.
In RAEL, Natalie is currently engaged in the SWITCH China project. She works on modeling grid expansion for China, looking at how decarbonization pathways and electric vehicle grid integration will affect the future energy mix. Her topics of interest include long-term power system planning, applications of international energy policy, projecting energy demand, and storage technology adoption.
Hao is a postdoctoral researcher in RAEL as well as in the Department of Earth System Science at Tsinghua University. She holds a double-degree Ph.D. from Beijing Normal University and Aalborg University, specializing in environmental economics and environmental planning respectively. Hao’s research applies interdisciplinary methods to analyze the pollution sources, health impacts and external cost of air pollution in China.
Hao is deeply interested in environmental policies and their effectiveness at balancing economic growth with environmental sustainability. She is currently collaborating with Professor Zhang Qiang, Professor Liu Zhu and Professor Daniel Kammen. Her postdoctoral research investigates energy consumption in developing countries and its impacts on CO2 emissions and human health.
She is lead researcher in the UC Berkeley-Tsinghua U‑Duke University partnership on the health impacts of decarbonization of the power sector in China, California, and elsewhere.
For her publications: click here.
Current position:
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of British Columbia
马子明 Ziming Ma
博士生 Ph.D Student
清华大学电机工程与应用电子技术系
Dept. Electrical Engineering and Applied Electronic Technology
Tsinghua University
Ziming is a visiting doctoral student who will be working on clean energy science, technology, and markets in and for China as part of RAEL’s work with several partner institutions in China.
Dennis has focused his career on technology and sustainability policy in emerging and developing economies. His research interests include technology and innovation policy and impacts to resource and rural development, technology transfer and the political economy of land use management. He has led programs with the Paris based International Energy Agency, as an official of the OECD, working with emerging economies on energy technology policy and contributing to the Agency’s analysis of energy, environment and climate policies (specifically working collaboratively with China and other transition economies in exploring long-term clean energy options, including advanced bioenergy, carbon sequestration and negative emissions systems.) Prior to living in Berkeley, he spent five years in France, and seven years in Beijing, China – advising government and industrial clients on sustainability and technology deployment initiatives. He holds a BA in political science (international relations) and a concentration in East Asian studies from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
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