Speaker: Ma Jun, Director, Institute of Public & Environmental Affairs (IPE)
Moderator: Daniel Schrag, Sturgis Hooper Professor of Geology, Professor of Environmental Science and Engineering, Harvard University; Director, Harvard University Center for the Environment

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President Xi Jinping has sought to make the environment part of his lasting legacy. Since 2012, China has drastically improved air pollution and developed a world-leading clean energy industry. In 2020, Xi made a historic climate commitment, setting a target for net-zero emissions by 2060. But with a stagnant economy, Xi’s vision for phasing out fossil fuels is looking harder and harder to realize. How are industry leaders and officials at all levels coping with environmental challenges in the face of shrinking profits? Can China continue to lead the world, or will the green dreams be deferred?

Ma Jun is one of China’s most influential environmentalists. As director of the Institute of Public & Environmental Affairs (IPE), he developed the China Water Pollution Map, the first public database of water pollution information in China, and works with private and state-sector industry to help them improve their environmental performance.

Ma also serves as environmental consultant for the Sinosphere Corporation. In the 1990s Ma became known as an investigative journalist, working at the South China Morning Post from 1993 to 2000. There, he began to specialize in articles on environmental subjects. He eventually became the chief representative of SCMP.com in Beijing. Ma’s 1999 book China’s Water Crisis, China’s first major book on the subject, has been compared to Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. In 2006, Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential persons in the world.

Presented via Zoom. Register at: https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_tqG3g0cXQ1eCO8YEIDzWWg