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jade gray

Founder, Gung-ho! Pizza

Jade Gray set out with a mission to create the “Patagonia of Pizza.” After graduating from the University of New Zealand, today’s guest has pioneered sustainable entrepreneurship in Beijing over the past two decades.

 

He is the co-founder of Gung Ho! Ventures, which includes the Gung Ho! Pizza restaurants in Beijing.

liam bates

Co-Founder, Kaiterra

Liam Bates, originally from Switzerland, is an entrepreneur and the co-founder at Kaiterra, a Beijing-based company founded in 2014 whose goal is to develop cutting edge smart devices designed to help improve the environment people build and sustain a healthy lifestyle.

 

An adventurer at heart, Liam enjoys exploring remote parts of the world. In 2009, he and his Chinese friend Ken Ying spent two months on a motorcycle trip across China. Starting in Lhasa, they rode a total of 8,000 kilometers and eventually arrived in Shanghai, chronicling their journey in a documentary called "Motorbikes and the Yak."

 

In 2014, Liam embarked on a new – and entirely different – adventure. Along with his wife Jessica Lam, and best friend Ken, he founded Kaiterra, with the aim to address air pollution. Launching their first product, the Laser Egg, in 2015, the company offers the first and only PM2.5 monitor to be sold at Apple stores.

 

In 2017, Liam was listed on Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2017: Consumer Technology.

Liam Bates
Jade Gray

elizabeth newbury

Director, Serious Games Initiative, Woodrow Wilson Center

Elizabeth M H Newbury, PhD, is the Director of the Serious Games Initiative at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, a federal think tank located in the United States. Her work focuses on making scientific and policy research broadly accessible to the public through the engaging medium of educational games, taking games take complex policy topics – such as the federal budget or coastal resilience – and make them approachable and fun.

 

She believes that games are one more tool an environmental group can use to galvanize the public, and has spoken in China from Beijing to Kunming about everything from the theory behind the public communication of science through games and the practical aspects of making games.

Elizabeth Newbury

linda greer

​Senior Scientist, Health Program, Natural Resources Defense Council

Since joining NRDC in 1981, Linda Greer has been finding ways to reduce the presence of toxic chemicals in our air, water, food, buildings, and consumer products. She spearheaded environmental health efforts in China, including an inventory of the country's mercury use and an initiative calling on corporations to take responsibility for the environmental impact of their factories located there.

 

She also launched NRDC’s Clean by Design program in 2009 to address the environmental impacts of the fashion industry. Greer sits on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology. She has a bachelor’s degree in biology from Tufts University, a master's in environmental science and engineering from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a PhD in environmental toxicology from the University of Maryland. She is based in Washington, D.C.

Anchor 2

sophie lu

Head of China Research, Bloomberg New Energy Finance

Sophie Lu is head of China Research at Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Sophie has a broad background in energy markets, clean tech and environmental governance having worked previously as a consultant at Azure International and as a Fulbright scholar in China.

 

Sophie also serves as co-executive director of the Beijing Energy Network.

Sophie Lu

Xu Shengnian

Program Officer, Energy and Climate Change, GEI

Dr. Shengnian Xu is the program officer of the Energy and Climate Change team at Global Environment Institute (GEI). He co-developed GEI’s Low-Carbon Development Planning Toolkit, in partnership with the Center for Climate Strategies, that has provided over 700 government officials and experts with the resources to implement low-carbon planning in cities and provinces throughout China. His latest work includes developing a citizen science-based environmental protection strategy for western China to improve more grassroots data collection.

His areas of specialization at GEI include U.S.-China climate cooperation, citizen science, low-carbon development, and China’s engagement in international climate agreements. Practiced in both the international and domestic sides of climate change relations, Shengnian represented GEI at the United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP) 21 in Paris in 2015 and currently leads citizen projects in China’s Sanjiangyuan region, which houses the headwaters of China’s three most important rivers, Yellow, Yangtze, and Lancang.

Shengnian holds a Ph.D. and B.S. in astrophysics from the University of Science and Technology of China and in 2008, was a visiting student Michigan University, studying astronomy. From 2012 to 2014, he served as a post-doctorate fellow at the Academy of Mathematics and Systems Science at the Chinese Academy of Science, conducting research on supermassive black holes and gravitational wave sources. Shengnian is fluent in Mandarin and English and “winds down” by running, hiking, and coding (GEI's website developer extraordinaire!).

Xu Shengnian

Huw slater

Senior Consultant, ICF

Huw Slater is a Senior Consultant at ICF. Huw previously worked at China Carbon Forum as the Research and Projects Manager. In addition to managing CCF’s regular events on low-carbon topics in Beijing, he works on CCF’s research projects and produces the regular CCF Insights research notes.

 

Huw has been based in Beijing since 2011, first working with Chinese NGO Institute for Environment and Development on climate change adaptation policy in China, and then researching Chinese carbon markets. Previously Huw has worked with an Australian National University (ANU) research team and the World Bank, reporting on Climate Change and Fiscal Policy as part of the APEC Finance Ministers’ Policy Initiatives of 2008.

 

Huw has a Master of Asia Pacific Studies and a Master of Climate Change from Australian National University.

Huw Slater

Justine

shanti alexander

Regional Ecologist, Snow Leopard Trust

Dr. Justine Shanti Alexander is a regional ecologist at the Snow Leopard Trust. Justine got her PhD at Beijing Forestry University researching snow leopard conservation in China. She was a National Geographic Young Explorer in 2013, and has published numerous academic studies on snow leopard conservation and on snow leopard and human interactions. 

Justine Shanti Alexander

Zhao Ang

Co-founder & Director, Rock Environment and Energy Institute

ZHAO Ang, co-founder and director of Rock Environment and Energy Institute(REEI), had worked with both domestic and international environmental NGOs as well as renewable energy consultancy. His research interests are climate change and energy transition policies.

 

Mr. Zhao holds a B.A. in Chinese from Peking University and a M.Sc. in Environmental Policy and Regulation from the London School of Economics and Political Science. He was APLP Fellow with the East-West Center in 2014-2015. His publications appear in China Environment Series 11(2010/2011), Environmentally-Aware Business Models and Technologies, Chapter 24, 463-471 (2011), International Journal of Applied Logistics, 3(3), 15-21, July-September (2012), Environmental Resource and Energy Review (Vol.2)., 222-233 (2017), and others. 

Zhao Ang

xie yan

Associate Research Professor, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Xie Yan is an associate research professor in the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. She is a leading expert on biodiversity in China and has initiated the development of Protected Area Friendly System.

 

Xie believes that the Protected Area Friendly System provides an effective way to preserve natural resources and biodiversity by increasing income of local communities and mitigating conflicts between nature conservation and economic development.

Xie Yan

Peggy liu

Chairperson of JUCCCE

Peggy Liu  刘佩琪, Chairperson of JUCCCE, is internationally recognized for her expertise on China‘s sustainability landscape and for fostering international collaboration with China. JUCCCE is a non-profit organization dedicated to accelerating the greening of China, because a green China is the key to a healthy world. JUCCCE is a leader in creating systemic change in sustainable cities, sustainable consumerism and smart grid, and most noted for its multi-sector convening power. 

She is also an executive advisor to Marks & Spencer and HP, a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Sustainable Consumption 2012-14, a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, an advisor to GE’s Global Insight Network. She served as a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on New Energy Architecture 2011, and an energy adviser to the Clinton Global Initiative in 2008.

In 2007, Peggy organized the MIT Forum on the Future of Energy in China from which JUCCCE was formed. This forum was the first public dialogue between US and Chinese government officials on clean energy in China. Prior to JUCCCE she was a venture capitalist in Shanghai. In the 1990’s Peggy was on the cover of “Red Herring Hits” as an Internet pioneer in Silicon Valley heading Channel A, one of the earliest e-commerce companies.  Other executive positions in Silicon Valley included General Manager of Consumer Applications at Zaplet, a dynamic email communications platform, and VP of Marketing at SeeUthere.com. Peggy also served as a management consultant at McKinsey, a software product manager for Internet Chameleon- the first graphical user interface for surfing the Internet on Windows, product manager for Symantec C++ and Norton OEM products, and a computer programmer.

She is a graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and completed a program in Global Leadership and Public Policy for the 21st Century at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and a program at the Lee Kwan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore.

Peggy Liu

Yin Beibei

Head of Asia Pacific Forest Project, Global Witness

殷贝贝,全球见证(国际非营利组织)亚太森林项目负责人,负责调研和发布亚太地区发生的毁林和非法木材贸易情况,并负责将有关信息及时与中国各利益方沟通,以协助中国有关部门了解情况和考虑对策。她也是《金融时报》、《卫报》、中外对话和国内媒体的撰稿人。

 

在加入环境领域之前她在金融时报和CNN实习,也做过一些自由撰稿,毕业后在一个叫做the Bureau of Investigate Journalism的新闻调查机构工作一年。全球见证最近发布了一个有关巴布亚新几内亚非法采伐与毁林问题的调查报告;此外,其在全球26个国家调研有关自然资源利用和管理中存在的问题,提出建议以规避商业、声誉和安全等风险。

 

 

Yin Beibei, Head of the Asia Pacific Forest Project at Global Witness (an international nonprofit organization), is responsible for researching and publications regarding the deforestation and illegal timber trade in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as communicating relevant information to various Chinese stakeholders in a timely manner to ensure relevant departments understand the situation and consider countermeasures. She is also a contributor to the Financial Times, The Guardian, chinadialogue and domestic media. 

 

Before joining the environmental field, she worked as an intern at the Financial Times and CNN. She also worked as a freelance writer. After graduation, she worked for a year at a news investigation agency called the Bureau of Investigate Journalism. Global Witness recently released a survey on illegal logging and deforestation in Papua New Guinea; in addition, the organization surveyed issues in natural resource utilization and management in 26 countries around the world, and made recommendations to avoid business, reputation and safety risks.

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Yin Beibei

Jiang Liping

Senior Irrigation Engineer, World Bank

Liping Jiang is a senior irrigation engineer working in the East Asia and the Pacific, Sustainable Development Unit at the World Bank. He has previously held positions at the Division for Economic Cooperation and the Hai River Basin Commission of China’s Ministry of Water Resources.

 

He has worked in Cambodia, Philippines, China, Tunisia, Lebanon, Morocco and Egypt, and specializes on integrated water and environment management and ET-based irrigated agricultural water savings. Liping is currently based in Beijing, China.

Jiang Liping

Xiaoyuan

“Charlene” Ren

Founder, MyH20

Charlene Ren is the founder of MyH2O Water Information Network. MyH2O is a crowd-based platform that connects clean water resources to rural communities. Since 2015, data from thousands of villages have been collected.

 

Ms. Ren holds a dual M.S. in Environmental Engineering and Technology & Policy from MIT, with a research focus on information-based policy in rural India’s water and sanitation sector. She’s also a 2016 Echoing Green Fellow.

Xiaoyuan Charlene Ren

Dimitri de Boer

Head of China Program, ClientEarth

Dimitri is one of China’s most prominent environmental cooperation experts. He previously led the EU – China Environmental Governance Programme, a flagship EU-funded cooperation with China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection, which promoted access to information, public participation, and access to justice from 2010 to 2015. When the EU Programme came to a successful close, Dimitri joined ClientEarth and started its China programme. He quickly built relations and cooperation activities with China’s Supreme People’s Court and Ministry of Environmental Protection.

Before joining ClientEarth, Dimitri worked as senior adviser on environment and climate change for the United Nations Industrial Development Organization in China for 12 years. He also worked as consultant for the World Bank, European Union, and the Chinese government. Dimitri volunteers as vice-chairman of the Board of China Carbon Forum, an independent platform which aims to foster trust and cooperation among China’s stakeholders for climate action.

Dimitri studied Chinese language in Beijing, speaks good Thai, and holds a Masters of Business Administration with Distinction marks (top 2%) from Edinburgh Business School. He has been awarded a special foreign expert permit by the Chinese government for outstanding contributions to environmental protection.

Dimitri DeBoer

Luo peng

Founder, Ecoaction

罗鹏是生态旅行企业生地行Ecoaction 的创始人,自从2013年成立以来,生地行设计并组织了一系列有关自然与文化的旅行体验,让参与者能深入自然,关注自然,热爱自然,并为保护自然采取积极行动,同时也积极推动当地社区参与并受益,实现了自然、社区、企业的可持续发展。

创立生地行之前,罗鹏供职于道和环境与发展研究所(IED),负责生态社区/教育项目。罗鹏毕业于北京师范大学及中国科学院动物研究所,拥有生态学硕士学位。


Luo Peng is the founder of Ecoaction, an eco-tourism company. Since its inception in 2013, Ecoaction has designed and organized a series of travel experiences about nature and culture, allowing participants to go deep into nature, pay attention to nature, love nature, protect nature, and take positive actions. At the same time, it also actively promotes the participation and benefit of local communities and realizes the sustainable development of nature, community and enterprises.

Prior to founding the company, Luo Peng worked for the Institute for Environment and Development (IED) and was responsible for the eco-community/education project. Luo Peng graduated from Beijing Normal University and the Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences with a master's degree in ecology.

Luo Peng

carrie yu & joe harvey

Founders, THE BULK HOUSE

Carrie Yu (余元Yu Yuan) is the co-founder of THE BULK HOUSE, the first social enterprise in China to promote zero waste and minimalism. Carrie Yu and her partner, Joe Harvey, opened China’s first zero waste and package free store in Beijing at the beginning of 2018.

 

One of the main focuses of THE BULK HOUSE is encouraging people to understand their waste and then reduce their waste using the 6R principle. Carrie and Joe work day in and day out to make zero waste living and minimalism simple. (Zero waste + minimalism = greater happiness)

Carrie & Joe

王灿发 wang canfa

Professor, China University of Political Science and Law

Wang Canfa is a Chinese professor at the China University of Political Science and Law, and the founder and director of the Beijing-based Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims (CLAPV). Wang Canfa is an environmental law expert and he has participated in the drafting of many Chinese environmental regulations. Professor Wang has also provided environmental training to hundreds of lawyers and judges and established a network of environmental advocates in China.

 

In 1998, Wang Canfa established CLAPV, which was the first center providing legal aid to people and communities injured by pollution throughout China. While Professor Wang has been director, CLAPV has received over 10,000 telephone calls on its hotline asking for assistance and handled over 100 cases. Professor Wang has represented as many 1,700 plaintiffs in a single action, and won a $730,000 ruling against a paper mill and chemical plant in Shangdong. Wang Canfa has received many awards, and was recognized on Time Magazine's list of "Heroes of the Environment" in October 2007.

WangCF 2.jpg
Wang Canfa

Kathinka Furst

Associate Director, Environmental Research Center

Duke Kunshan University

Dr. Fürst received her PhD degree at the Faculty of Law, University of Amsterdam and her MA degree at the Center from Environment and Development at the University of Oslo. She has a BA in Sinology from Beijing Language and Culture University.

She is now working on several projects focusing on:

  • Mapping and analyzing the effect of environmental public interest litigation and tort litigation in China

  • Examining the Jing-Jing-Ji air pollution reduction policies from an environmental, economic and social justice perspective

  • Smog Art in China

Dr. Fürst has extensive experience in interdisciplinary research through her work as an administrative coordinator for the Sino-Norwegian Center for Interdisciplinary Environmental Research and research fellow at the Social Science Research Council’s China Environment and Health Initiative.

Prior to joining Duke Kunshan University Dr. Fürst work as a consultant on program management and evaluation focusing on environmental governance projects in China. She also has substantial experience in research project design, implementation and monitoring. 

Kathinka

Song Qingchuan

Co-founder, Daji Nature

宋晴川 2008年毕业于武汉大学,2012年于西南林业大学获得动物学硕士学位,从事灵长类动物研究。2012年加入野生动植物保护国际(FFI)工作,服务广西黑叶猴保护项目。2015年成为美境自然首批会员至今。工作期间致力于野生动物巡护监测、无人机监测技术的应用、保护区能力建设、保护小区的创建、自然教育项目。

Song Qingchuan graduated from Wuhan University in 2008 and obtained a master's degree in zoology from Southwest Forestry University in 2012. He is engaged in primate research. In 2012, he joined Fauna and Flora International (FFI) to serve the Guangxi Black Leaf Monkey Conservation Project. In 2015, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States. In his work, Qingchuan is committed to wildlife patrol monitoring, the application of UAV monitoring technology, capacity building in protected areas, the creation of protected communities, and nature education projects.

Song Qingchuan

Zhao Xingfeng

Co-founder, Daji Nature

2009年毕业于中科院昆植所获得硕士学位,在野生动植物保护国际(FFI)工作8年,美境自然的创始人之一。先后参与中国濒危树种保护、滨海湿地和迁徙候鸟野外调查和监测等。善长无人机技术在保护中的应用,滨海湿地、植物和迁徙候鸟等关键生物类群野外调查和监测,发动公众参与式保护行动等方面。

In 2009, Xingfeng graduated from the Kunming Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences with a master's degree and worked at Fauna and Flora International (FFI) for eight years. He has participated in the investigation and monitoring of endangered tree species, coastal wetlands, and migratory birds in China. The application of good long-range UAV technology plays a key role in the protection, field investigation and monitoring of key biological groups such as coastal wetland plants and migratory birds, and the launch of public participation in protection actions.

Zhao Xingfeng

袁家海 Yuan Jiahai

Professor, North China Electric Power University

华北电力大学经济管理学院管理科学与工程专业教授。

2006 年获管理学博士学位,曾为美国密歇根大学(安娜堡)的访问学者。袁教授的研究兴趣聚焦中国电力行业的低碳转型和一带一路绿色电力合作。他在Nature Energy, Environmental Science & Technology, Energy Economics, Energy, Energy Policy 等国际期刊发表了50余篇学术论文。近年来与美国自然资源保护协会、能源基金会、绿色和平等机构合作发布了数份有影响力的政策研究报告,其关于煤电的有关研究和政策分析在学术界和政策层面广受关注;著有《“一带一路”绿色电力合作研究》、《低碳电力转型:目标决策、动态优化与政策机制协同》、《中国低碳能源政策研究》、《Renewable Energy in China》等著作。财新网专栏作家,就电力低碳转型、煤电政策、电力规划、电力海外投资等热点问题多次接受中央电视台、新华社、中国能源报、中国电力报、中外对话等国内外媒体的采访,在国内外媒体发表评论文章20余篇。

 

Professor at School of Economics and Management, North China Electric Power University; visiting scholar at Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise, University of Michigan.

 

Prof Yuan's research is focused on China's low-carbon power transition and Green Power Cooperation along the Belt and Road. He has published more than 50 papers on Nature Energy, Environmental Science & Technology, Energy Economics, Energy, Energy Policy, etc. He is the author of Research on Green Power Cooperation along the Belt and Road, Low-Carbon Power Transition: the Coordination of Objective Decision-Making, Dynamic Optimization and Policy Mechanisms, Research on China's Low-Carbon Energy Policy, Renewable Energy in China, and more. Prof Yuan is also a columnist for Caixin.com, and has repeatedly interviewed by domestic and foreign media such as CCTV, Xinhua News Agency, China Energy News, China Electric Power News, and China Dialogue on hot issues such as low-carbon power transformation, coal-fired power policy, power planning, and overseas investment in power. More than 20 articles have been published in domestic and foreign media.

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Yuan Jiahai

Ma tianjie

Managing Editor, chinadialogue

Ma tianjie Headshot.png

马天杰,中外对话运营副主编。加入中外对话之前,他担任绿色和平中国大陆项目总监。在绿色和平任职期间,他经常为中外媒体撰稿,就中国的环境挑战作出评论。他于2009年取得美利坚大学国际环境政策硕士学位。

Ma Tianjie is chinadialogue managing editor in Beijing. Before joining China Dialogue, he was Greenpeace's Program Director for Mainland China. While at Greenpeace, he was a regular commentator on China's environmental challenges contributing to a range of media organizations. He holds a master’s degree in environmental policy from American University, Washington D.C.

Ma Tianjie

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Environment China is a bilingual podcast from the Beijing Energy Network.

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