On April 9th, the EU and China reaffirmed their commitment to strengthen their partnership in various areas, including climate related research and development. The CHEERS project is a good example of such close collaboration and knowledge-exchange between Chinese and European partners.
The 21st EU-China summit was held in Brussels, Belgium on April 2019. During the summit, European and Chinese leaders discussed mutually beneficial relations and a strengthening of their partnership.
The EU-China summit was held on the 9th April in Brussels, Belgium. Credit: European Commission
In a statement following the summit, the two parties concluded that they ‘’underline their strong commitment to implement the Paris Agreement and the Montreal Protocol’’. Given the urgency to respond to climate change, both the EU and China aim to ‘’further intensify their cooperation on the basis of the 2018 joint Leaders’ Statement on Climate Change and Clean Energy[1]’’. During the summit, both EU and Chinese delegations stated that they will reinforce ‘’their climate-related cooperation to advance the international climate negotiations process and in areas like carbon markets, long-term development strategies, clean energy and energy efficiency, low emission transport and cities’’[2],[3].
The CHEERS project is already a successful example of such cooperation. With 9 participating organisations both from the EU and China, it has contributed to research-related cooperation between the EU and China in the field of Carbon Capture and Storage. Over the past year, academics, research institutions and industrial partners of this consortium have authored a number of scientific publications presented at different international conferences.
The first phase of CHEERS consortium will finish by July 2019. A major achievement of this phase is design, construction and successful operation of a cold mock-up of the of the Chemical Looping Combustion technology with identical design as the demonstration plant.
The successful progress of CHEERS project will be a step toward clean industry, helping both EU and China reach their climate goals.
The CHEERS (Chinese-European Emission-Reducing Solutions) project is financed by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 764697 together with the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) and Chinese industry.
[1] https://www.consilium.europa.eu/media/39020/euchina-joint-statement-9april2019.pdf
[2] https://cdn1-eeas.fpfis.tech.ec.europa.eu/cdn/farfuture/rVotT71TqcUuInsE7VOb7j1_xi9jIMcvhhHxcYLGE1g/mtime:1552379624/sites/eeas/files/factsheet_eu-china_03_2019.pdf
[3] http://eeas.europa.eu/archives/docs/china/docs/eu-china_2020_strategic_agenda_en.pdf