High level political dialogue facilitated

On September 7th, during the 2023 International Energy Transiiton Forum in Suzhou, China, the National Energy Administration of China (NEA) and the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action of Germany (BMWK) jointly organized the 11th Sino-German Energy Working Group Meeting. Mr. An Fengquan, Deputy Director-General of the International Cooperation Department of NEA, and Ms. Andrea Juenemann, Minister Counsellor at the German Embassy in China, hosted the meeting and presented the latest energy policies and developments of both countries.

Representatives from various government departments, implementation organisations, research institutions from both China and Germany participated in the meeting.

From the Chinese side:

• the New Energy and Renewable Energy Department, the Electricity Department, the Energy Conservation and Technology Equipment Department of NEA,
• China Electric Power Planning & Engineering Institute (EPPEI),
• the Shenyang Institute of Applied Ecology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (SIA),
• the Energy Development Institute of the Southern Power Grid,

From the German side:

• the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK)
• GIZ
• German Energy Agency (dena)
• Agora Energiewende.

Both sides reviewed the progress and achievements of Sino-German cooperation in 2022 under the framework of the Sino-German Working Group on Energy. A series of research and exchange activities were conducted on topics related to the policy framework in the energy and power sector, renewable energy integration, power market reform, power system flexibility, rural energy transition, sustainable heating/cooling, distributed renewable energy, hydrogen as well as energy transition communication. These activities yielded fruitful results, effectively promoting the continued development of energy cooperation between the two countries and making significant contributions to building a comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Germany. As for next year, both sides agreed on continueing to deepen the cooperation on these topics, and expand to further topics such as green certificate.

About the Sino-German Working Group on Energy

The Sino-German Working Group on Energy is the official mechanism for government dialogue and exchange in the field of renewable energy between the National Energy Administration of China and the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action of Germany (BMWK). The working group holds annual meetings, alternating between the two countries. During these meetings, both sides review the collaborative achievements of the Sino-German Energy Partnership (with a focus on government bilateral cooperation) and the Sino-German Energy Transition Project (with a focus on cooperation with think tanks on energy transition research) in the previous year. Both sides also outline the work plan for the following year and explore potential future collaboration opportunities at the annual working group meetings.