Summer Schools & Courses

The reports on Day 2 and Day 3 gave participants a wealth of practical insights, while the fun activities and water-gun battle sparked great enthusiasm. So, after recharging, what outstanding performances would the 16 groups bring on Day 4 and Day 5? Let us step into the CEADs Summer Camp and take a look.

Day 4

Group Work SUMMER CAMP 2023

Staying Grounded

After two days of study and exploration on carbon-emission accounting methods for emerging economies, Chinese cities, and enterprises, as well as input-output tables and point-source data from power plants, each group had clarified the methods and steps for carbon-emission accounting and was steadily arranging tasks within the group.

Forging Ahead

Data are the cornerstone of carbon-emission accounting, and ensuring data accuracy and completeness is essential for obtaining reliable results. During this process, each group searched for data with great care and patience while ensuring its quality and accuracy. In the subsequent calculation and verification process, the groups continued to cross-check their data to ensure the reliability of the results. As data mining advanced, the groups encountered some difficulties, but members actively discussed the problems they faced, shared techniques for collecting and processing carbon-emission data, and consulted the instructors on challenging questions. Through this process, members of each group supported and encouraged one another as they forged ahead together.

(Swipe right to enjoy work photos of our talented and charming participants.)

Day 5

Forum SUMMER CAMP 2023

He Kebin

Member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering

Dean, Institute for Carbon Neutrality, Tsinghua University

Academician He Kebin is a recipient of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars and the leader of the Innovation Research Group on Multi-Medium Complex Pollution and Control Chemistry. He is also a Distinguished Professor under the Ministry of Education Chang Jiang Scholars Program and the leader of the innovation team on Regional Complex Air Pollution and Control. He currently serves as Vice Chair of the National Eco-Environmental Protection Expert Committee, Vice President of the Chinese Society for Environmental Sciences, convener of the Environmental Science and Engineering Discipline Appraisal Group of the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council, and Chair of the National Environmental Science and Engineering Teaching Steering Committee.

Academician He has long been dedicated to research on complex air pollution, especially PM2.5. He has conducted in-depth studies on the identification of atmospheric particulate matter and complex pollution, complex source-emission characteristics and coordinated multi-pollutant control, and coordinated control of air pollution and greenhouse gases. He was named a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher from 2018 to 2020 and received the 2018 Climate and Clean Air Award team prize from the United Nations Environment Programme.

On the morning of the fifth day, Academician He Kebin, Dean of the Institute for Carbon Neutrality at Tsinghua University, delivered an excellent lecture titled Carbon Neutrality: The World Economy Will Shift from Resource Dependence on Energy to Technology Dependence on Energy.

Addressing the grid integration and consumption challenges faced by an energy structure dominated by new energy, Academician He introduced a systematic solution centered on key technologies across the source-grid-load chain. The solution covers supply-side approaches such as regional photovoltaic complementarity, regional wind-power complementarity, and wind-solar complementarity, as well as demand-side approaches such as integration with transportation, buildings, hydrogen energy, and the chemical industry.

Academician He noted that achieving carbon neutrality still requires meeting three major challenges. The first is innovation in key core technologies, namely how to accelerate key core technologies that are still in the research, development, and demonstration stages in areas such as low-carbon power generation, power infrastructure, transport electrification, industrial electrification, building electrification, and fuel-conversion electrification. The second is the risk of key materials in the new-energy industrial supply chain, namely how to respond to risks in the supply of critical minerals triggered by the energy transition. The third is digitally enabled joint development of carbon-neutral systems, namely how to build a new-generation energy system based on digital and intelligent technologies to empower the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality process.

At the end of the lecture, Academician He pointed out that the profound changes in human activities along the path to carbon neutrality will have major impacts on ecosystems. Achieving carbon neutrality depends on joint efforts across energy science, materials science, economics, data science, and other fields. As one part of the systematic effort to achieve carbon neutrality, carbon accounting has broad application prospects and great potential, and will have much to contribute in the future.

Students raised questions enthusiastically

Q & A

During the Q&A session, participants engaged in in-depth exchanges with Academician He Kebin on topics including planning industrial carbon-reduction pathways, balancing economic and environmental benefits, coordination mechanisms between new-energy vehicles and renewable energy, and improving the quality of research data. Drawing on his own research experience, Academician He offered detailed answers from both theoretical and practical perspectives.

This academic lecture provided participants with a broader research perspective, promoting intellectual exchange and theoretical dialogue across disciplines. After the lecture, members of each group returned to a new round of group work with a full sense of reward.

Voices from Participants

The summer camp is already more than halfway through. Let us hear how the participants feel.

Zhang Qian

In the blink of an eye, the summer camp is already more than halfway through. I am grateful to the CEADs team for providing such rich and varied activities. We listened to leading scholars explain professional frontiers, learned methods for carbon-emission accounting, and joined an exciting water-gun battle. Even more fortunately, we met a group of like-minded friends. Because of all of you, this journey has become even more colorful.

Peng Jihao

It is a great honor to participate in this CEADs Summer Camp. The learning and life over the past few days have given me a more comprehensive understanding of the field of carbon reduction. The excellent lectures by experts and scholars gave me a more concrete understanding of the current status of carbon emissions and carbon-reduction pathways. In group activities, we combined the theoretical knowledge we had learned and, under the guidance of our instructors, carried out practical accounting work on carbon emissions in different cities in East China. Thank you to the CEADs team for this valuable opportunity.