Summer Schools & Courses

On July 22, 2022, Xiamen welcomed more than 130 master's and doctoral students from over 100 universities at home and abroad, including the University of Chicago, Tsinghua University, Peking University, Zhejiang University, and many others. They gathered in Xiamen for the Fourth China Carbon Accounting Summer Camp, and will spend the next 10 days together on the beautiful island of Egret.

This summer camp was jointly hosted by the CEADs team and the Fujian Institute of Ocean Sustainable Development (Xiamen University), under the guidance of the China 21st Century Agenda Management Center of the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Basic Science Center for Quantitative Modeling and Economic Policy of the National Natural Science Foundation of China. It was co-organized by the Xiamen Municipal Government Beijing Office, the Xiang'an District People's Government of Xiamen, and several universities and research institutes at home and abroad. Centered on the theme of China and emerging economies carbon accounting and carbon-neutral transition pathways, the program features face-to-face academic exchange and course training to cultivate interdisciplinary talent with strong professional skills, practical ability, and a focus on the 30/60 carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals.

Opening Ceremony

The opening ceremony was hosted by Academician Dai Minhan, chief scientist of the Fujian Institute of Ocean Sustainable Development (Xiamen University) and a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He extended a sincere welcome to the campers and introduced the guests attending the ceremony one by one. Academician Dai explained that the institute serves national and local ocean governance by supporting strategic and policy decision-making for marine management departments and responding to national and local needs in marine ecological protection and carbon management. He also expressed hope that the camp would create more opportunities for inter-university collaboration in the future.

Academician Dai Minhan chairs the opening ceremony

Leaders and experts from the China 21st Century Agenda Management Center of the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Xiamen Municipal Government Beijing Office, the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Xiamen Xiang'an District Political Consultative Conference, Xiamen University, Tsinghua University, and other institutions delivered speeches at the ceremony. While highly affirming the summer camp, the guests encouraged students to learn in an innovative and relaxed atmosphere, to dare to climb the heights of scientific research, and to cherish this opportunity to gather together.

Huang Jing, Director of the China 21st Century Agenda Management Center, first warmly welcomed the campers. He said that climate change is a long-term crisis that cannot be ignored by any country, and carbon emissions accounting is the foundation and prerequisite for effective emission reduction, sound low-carbon transition policies, and international cooperation. China's carbon data still lacks sufficient international influence, so there is an urgent need for professionals to build a carbon data system of its own and enhance China's voice internationally. He encouraged the campers to contribute their strength, innovate boldly, and actively develop China's carbon database to help achieve the dual-carbon goals.

Director Huang Jing delivers remarks

Professor Hong Yongmiao, Academician of the African Academy of Sciences and Dean of the School of Economics and Management at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, affirmed the long-term importance of CEADs work on carbon emissions accounting databases and climate change research, and noted that training talent for the 30/60 dual-carbon agenda through a summer camp is highly meaningful. He encouraged the campers to learn about carbon emissions across Chinese provinces and cities, analyze the gap between current emissions and carbon peaking / carbon neutrality targets, and explore applications that combine first-hand data with methods from the social sciences and economics to contribute ideas for China and the world's response to climate change.

Academician Hong Yongmiao delivers remarks

Vice Director Zheng Yonghong of the Party Leadership Group of the Xiamen Municipal Government Beijing Office said that the dual-carbon issue is a matter of high concern for the leadership of Xiamen Municipal Government, and that facilitating related projects and events in Xiamen is part of the Beijing Office's responsibility. She therefore believed the summer camp was meaningful not only for implementing the strategic spirit of the dual-carbon goals and helping train internationally minded professionals, but also for bringing top experts and young talents from many places to Xiamen, integrating them into the city, promoting the city, and serving the city. The Xiamen government will fully support the cultivation of young dual-carbon talent for the country.

Vice Director Zheng Yonghong delivers remarks

Wu Qirong, Party Secretary and Chairman of the Xiamen Xiang'an District CPPCC, introduced Xiamen's recent efforts to deepen the construction of the national ecological civilization experimental zone, advance carbon peaking and carbon neutrality in an orderly manner, and strive to create a national demonstration zone for ecological civilization. This demonstrated the green foundation that Xiamen has continued to strengthen on its path toward becoming a modernized city of high quality and high aesthetic appeal. He also fully recognized the achievements of the CEADs working group in building basic carbon emissions data, and encouraged the campers to use the summer camp to grow into a professional and high-quality talent pool for carbon neutrality.

Chairman Wu Qirong delivers remarks

As the host, Qiu Hai, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Secretary of the Discipline Inspection Commission of Xiamen University, warmly welcomed the attending experts and scholars and expressed sincere thanks for their long-term support of Xiamen University. He introduced the university's talent cultivation and research achievements, and expressed hope that in the future more outstanding talent and research projects would be brought into Xiamen University, contributing professional wisdom to its connotative, distinctive, and high-quality development, and writing more chapters of cooperation with Tsinghua University and other partner institutions in the dual-carbon field.

Secretary Qiu Hai delivers remarks

Professor He Kebin, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Dean of the Tsinghua University Institute for Carbon Neutrality, first welcomed all campers on behalf of one of the co-hosts. He then highlighted the important value and meaning of heat, carbon, and data in light of current major phenomena and hot issues, and used that to express his earnest expectations for the students. He urged the campers to work hard and contribute youthful energy to global economic development, and also thanked Xiamen and the attending experts and scholars for their strong support.

Academician He Kebin delivers remarks

Professor Zhang Qiang, Deputy Director of the Department of Earth System Science at Tsinghua University, reviewed the development history of the carbon accounting summer camp since 2017, when it was held three times at Nanjing Normal University and Tsinghua University. He also shared his own valuable experience participating in the Youth Scientists Summer Program of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in 2004, and hoped that the students would cherish this opportunity to gather, use it to contribute to China's efforts on carbon accounting for developing countries around the world, and help build China's national discourse system for carbon accounting.

Professor Zhang Qiang delivers remarks

Professor Guan Dabo, a Fellow of the British Academy and Distinguished Professor in the Department of Earth System Science at Tsinghua University, affirmed the achievements of previous summer camps. He encouraged students to learn in an innovative and relaxed atmosphere, dare to do work from zero to one, take the lead in climbing the heights of scientific research, and grow into the backbone of the 30/60 carbon peaking and carbon neutrality research path. He said they would provide a data foundation and scientific basis for carbon neutrality in China and other developing countries, and once again expressed sincere thanks to the Ministry of Science and Technology 21st Century Center, the National Natural Science Foundation's Basic Science Center, the governments of Xiamen and Xiang'an, and all experts and scholars from across the country who supported the summer camp.

Academician Guan Dabo delivers remarks

The summer camp also drew attention from major media outlets such as Xiamen TV and Xiamen Daily. After the opening ceremony, Xiamen TV interviewed and reported on the experts, scholars, staff, and campers.

A camper being interviewed

CEADs Forum

Academician Tao Shu of Peking University's School of Urban and Environmental Sciences gave the campers the first forum lecture, sharing research on updating global pollutant emission inventories. Based on years of team research, he quantitatively analyzed the reasons for the decline in emissions of black carbon, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, sulfur oxides, and nitrogen oxides in China from multiple perspectives, including the transformation of household energy use, the implementation of the dual-substitution policy in northern China, and the ban on primitive coke production. He also examined the environmental, health, and climate effects, with special emphasis on the importance of addressing indoor air pollution and its health impacts. He further summarized the main social, economic, and environmental drivers of air pollution exposure, offering references for emission reduction measures and related legislation and enforcement.

The students listened carefully and asked questions actively, and the first exchange of knowledge and ideas unfolded.

Academician Tao Shu gives a lecture

Campers listen carefully and ask questions

Later, Professor Guan Dabo introduced the development history, construction, and applications of the CEADs database for emerging economies carbon accounting, and described in detail the theoretical system and construction methods behind data products such as China's city-level carbon emissions inventory, the emerging economies carbon emissions inventory, and the global major industrial point-source emissions inventory. He explained that, as a data crowdfunding process, the development of the emerging economies carbon accounting database has important theoretical and practical significance and broad, far-reaching influence.

Professor Guan Dabo gives a lecture

Group Icebreaker

After absorbing all that knowledge, the group icebreaker session brought fresh ideas and warmth. CEADs staff randomly handed out university puzzle pieces to the students. The first group to find all of its puzzle partners, choose a team name, and elect a captain would be rewarded with a special prize for the session: a high-pressure water gun.

The whole process was full of surprises and laughter. In the end, the group named Disney Escapees won the water gun, and everyone got to know each other better in the process, further lifting the energy in the room.

Puzzle activity and talent show

CEADs Classes

After a brief newspaper-stacking game, the students' bond deepened further. In a relaxed atmosphere, Dr. Cui Can introduced multiscale carbon emissions inventories at the national, provincial, and city levels, and explained in detail the specific methods and procedures for city-level carbon emissions accounting.

Dr. Huo Jingwen introduced the construction and application of the global emerging economies multi-regional input-output model (the EMERGING database), together with detailed step-by-step guidance for building the model.

Welcome Dinner

After a tiring but fulfilling day in Mingxiao Hall, everyone went to the Seaside Pearl Buffet Restaurant at Xiamen Hotel for dinner. With delicious food, beautiful scenery, and the company of mentors and friends, the first day of the summer camp came to a joyful close. Thank you for meeting, and we look forward to even more wonderful and unforgettable CEADs stories in the beautiful island of Egret in the days ahead!