The global economy is experiencing a transition from high-carbon energy resources to low-carbon resources. Following EU and UK's commitment to cut carbon emissions to net-zero by 2040-2050, the recent announcement by President Xi Jinping that China aims to reach carbon neutrality by 2060 has once again stunned the world. The move to net-zero will undoubtedly provide both challenges and opportunities for the global energy system and have profound impact on energy education and research. In this context, on 8th December 2020, the secretariat of the Worldwide Energy University Network (WEUN), in collaboration with University of Dundee and China University of Petroleum-Beijing, organizedthe webinar on economics and policies of global energy transition. The webinar was moderated by Dr. Xiaoyi Mu from the Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy (CEPMLP), University of Dundee.
This meeting received extensive attention and participation from energy universities, energy industry and related industries at home and abroad. A total of 218 experts and scholars from China, the United Kingdom, the United States, Russia, the United Arab Emirates and other countries attended the meeting online.
Wendy Alexander, Vice-Principal (International) of the University of Dundee, delivered the opening speech. She pointed out in her speech that University of Dundee , as a founding member of WEUN, is very honored to host this conference together with China University of Petroleum-Beijing. The 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), originally scheduled for this year, will be held in Glasgow in 2021. University of Dundee and its CEPMLP will actively participate in this conference.
Next, Prof. Volker Roebenfrom University of Dundee, Prof. Martin Freer from University of Birmingham, Prof. Steven Griffiths, vice-president of Khalifa Universityof Science and Technology, Prof. Zhang Qi from China University of Petroleum-Beijing, Prof. Carol Dahl from Colorado School of Mines, and Prof. Evgeny Solomin from South Ural State University made keynote speeches respectively on topics of "From Paris to Glasgow: how will commitments to international climate change agreements shape the energy transition?", "Paths to Net Zero: A Technology Perspective", "Global Energy Transition: Challenges and opportunities for natural resource rich countries", "Energy Revolution: How Will China Reach Net-zero?", "How Will the Biden Presidency Change the Course of US Energy and Climate Policies?", "Renewables may save a mankind", "Skills and education towards energy transition". The participantsactively discussed the opportunities and challenges brought about by the globalenergy transformation of carbon-neutral. They praised the well-organization of this meeting and the well concerned topics. They hoped to attend more seminars held by WEUN on current energy-related hot topics in future.
The Worldwide Energy University Network is a non-legally binding voluntary membership organization of research universities, brought together by a shared strategic interest in research, innovation, education and internationalization in the field of energy. Initiated by China University of Petroleum-Beijing in 2018, the number of its member universities has grown to 31 by the end of 2020. Since its establishment, WEUN has been committed to establishing a global exchange and cooperation platform in energy research, innovation and education among its member universities.
