Experts and industry leaders from China and the United States attend the 9th US-China Green Energy Summit in Santa Clara, California, July 15, 2016. (Photo by Xue Yujie)

San Francisco, July. 18 – “For some time now, the U.S. and China, being the two largest economies in the world, have been of one mind in taking global leadership by agreeing on efforts to achieve their respective carbon emissions goals,” said Mike Honda, U.S. Congressman & Vice Chair of the Democratic National Committee at the 9th US-China Green Energy Summit in Santa Clara, California on Friday.

The United States has committed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 26% to 28% below the 2005 level by 2025, and to make “best efforts” to reduce emissions by 28%. Similarly, China announced the intent to peak carbon emissions around 2030 and to double its share of zero-carbon energy to 20 percent. In order to meet the challenges presented by this vision, Honda said, “We need to continue investing in research, and continue encouraging cross-sector coordination.”

U.S. and China are two of the largest economies in the world, and also two of the world’s largest energy consumers. Two countries nabbed the top two spots on energy production capacities and investment volumes in the world. Luo Linquan, Consul General of the People’s Republic of China in San Francisco, said that the above facts show vast space and prospects of the cooperation between US and China.

“I have had the privilege of observing the progress China has made in the electricity grid since my first meeting here in 1980, and I have a real appreciation for what the collaboration between teams from our two countries can accomplish,” Robert E. Larson, President of the US-China Green Energy Council told People’s Daily Online.

Wusaid in his keynote speech that “one of the most important things is to identify the common interests between the US and China, then we focus on that and move ahead.”

“I’m very impressed with the ability of China to be open in innovation. I am convinced that there is a real openness on many levels in China to think about innovation,” Dian Grueneich, Senior Research Fellow at Stanford University PEEC and Hoover Institution told People’s Daily Online.

According to Grueneich, comparing to China, innovation in the United States is sometimes more difficult because it has entered its mature stage. “In China I think that with the openness, there’s still a learning curve in cultural aspects of how to balance out disruption in technology and at the same time developing its rules of law and market,” said Grueneich.

At the US-China Green Energy Roundtable Forum on July 14, experts from over 30 technology firms and organizations in US, China and Europe shared their visions and insights on four specific topics from Renewable Energy and Global Energy Internet, Internet of Things (IoT) and Big Data, New Technology Vehicles and Energy Markets, and Silicon Valley Innovation and Smart City. Participants were asked to address the questions from the security and privacy concern of the IoT users to the gaps in technology to enable Demand Side Management of New Energy Vehicles.

The 2016 Summit on Developing Energy Internets to Combat Climate Change brought together government officials from China and US with industry leaders in the Electric Power, Renewable Energy, Information Technology and Internet Infrastructure. Steven Chu, Nobel Laureate and Former US Secretary of Energy also attended the summit.