6 June 2014, Shanghai - The Symposium on Energy Transition and Climate Change co-hosted by Tongji University, German Consulate-General in Shanghai opens at Tongji University. It is an essential session of the 4th International Student Conference on Environment and Sustainability (ISCES) which takes place at Tongji University, where gathers around 400 students from 47 countries.

The Symposium aims to provide an international platform to connect the global network of like-minded experts, create a policy-research-industry dialogue, discuss the challenges and opportunities during the progress of energy transition in response to the climate change and explore a transition strategy and provide innovative solutions of energy technology and policy to achieve global sustainability and alleviate the climate change and poverty.

The Symposium is divided into two sessions respectively from the policy and industry/implementation level. Dr. Wolfgang Rohr, Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany in Shanghai, and Prof. JIANG Bo, the Vice President of Tongji University attended and delivered speechs.

Mr. Sheng Fulai, the Head of Research and Partnerships Unit of UNEP, shares the global overview on International Trends in Energy Transition and UNEP’s response in three pillars: Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency, and UNEP’s Response.

On behalf of European level, Prof. Dr. Peter Hennicke, the Former president of the Wuppertal Institute and Principal Advisor of the bigEE project, who has devoted himself into sustainability oriented energy research for decades of years. He focuses on the German Energiewende – opportunities and pitfalls in his speech.

Dr. Dong Zhanfeng, the Expert of Chinese Academy for Environmental Planning (CAEP) directly under the China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection(MEP), as the Chinese representative expresses his ideas about Environmental Projection & Addressing Climate Change.

Ms. Mireia Paulo Noguera, Research Fellow at Fudan University Shanghai, China & Ruhr University, Bochum, Germay, has given a presentation about the European Union Climate and Energy Framework 2030: a focus on policies and actions.

On the Tongji side, Prof. Zhang Xu, the Heating Ventilation Gas Supplying and Air-conditioning Research Institute, Tongji University, mainly introduces A Study on Improvement the Rural Energy Efficiency in China based on Evolution by Game Theory.

By the end of Policy Session, Mr. Chen Yong, Editor-in-chief of Science Desk, International Department from Xinhua News Agency, summarizes and comments on the speeches of policy session in the morning, and also expresses his opinion on “The Arising of Climate Awareness in China--in a media worker's perspective”.

In the afternoon Industry Session of Symposium, Prof. WU Jiang, the Vice President of Tongji University takes the chair of the symposium.

In this session,Mr. Wolfgang Schmidt, the State Secretary to the Senate Chancellery, Commissioner to the Federal Government, to the European Union and for Foreign Affairs, shares his ideas and experiences on “How the city of Hamburg implements energy transition from theory to practice”.

Meanwhile, the CEO of Shanghai Environment and Energy Exchange (SEEE) - Dr. LIN Jian, the International Programme Manager at International Synergies,U.K - Mr. James Woodcock, the Business Development Manager, Econet, German Industry & Commerce Greater China – Ms. Leng Xiao, the Leader of DuPont China Renewable Energy Industry Board – Mr. Benny Lu, and the Former CEO of Shanghai Industrial Development Co., Ltd, Current CEO of Yuanhe Group – Mr. Ma Chengliang have addressed as keynote speakers on global environmental and sustainability challenges, inspired students as future leaders and shared cutting-edge environmental policies and solutions from an international perspective during ths expert panels.

In addition, the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) has sponsored and invited five outstanding young researchers from Kenya, Egypt, Bangladesh, Germany and Serbia, who have interested and contributed on the research of energy transition and climate change and has given them opportunities to present their opinions on the topic.