The Sino-American Youth Dialogue, titled “Making Carbon Neutral, Youth in Action” was jointly held by Tsinghua and MIT on Friday with presidents, scholars and students from the two universities attending the virtual meeting. Photo: Fan Wei/GT

Students from China's Tsinghua University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US exchanged views on how China and the US could work together on climate change during a virtual dialogue on Friday. 

The Sino-American Youth Dialogue, titled "Making Carbon Neutral, Youth in Action" was jointly held by Tsinghua and MIT with presidents, scholars and students from the two universities attending the virtual meeting.

"We believe that only by uniting can we establish a more reasonable climate governance system and achieve a vision of sustainable development. The attitude and actions of you, the youth of China and the United States, are crucial in this process," Qiu Yong, president of Tsinghua said during the opening speech. 

Rafael Reif, president of MIT, said in a video that the dialogue centered on one of the most urgent of all global issues: climate change, adding that it is an enormously complex problem that has no single "right" answer.

"I am convinced that to find these answers, we must have intense, international cooperation and the United States and China have a shared responsibility to lead the way," Reif said.

"By combining our strengths, China and the US have an opportunity for meaningful collaboration that will make an impact in time for it to make a difference. To do this, we must develop areas of common interest and mutual benefit for our two countries. And in order to collaborate in this way, we must communicate," the MIT president added.

Beate Trankmann, the United Nations Development Programme's Resident Representative for China, also attended the Friday dialogue. She said that young people have tremendous importance in realizing a greener, more sustainable future.

She emphasized that climate change is not an issue that can be solved by any one country alone. "As with COVID-19, this crisis transcends national borders. So international cooperation is everything. The world is best served by countries working together, sharing experiences and technologies that shift us toward greener paths."

That's why the Sino-American Youth Dialogue is so important, Trankmann said, noting that the discussions, collaboration and mutual learning taking place among young people from China and the US is precisely the type of cooperation needed to ensure global climate goals are met. Given the critical role that these two countries must play in keeping global temperatures within safe limits, it is especially heartening to see such a positive example of cooperation. 

The Global Times learned that the dialogue included an array of activities with young people and scholars from the two distinguished universities in China and the US exchanging their views via academic seminars or reporting. 

A proposal will come out at the end of the dialogue and will be submitted to the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15), which is set to kick off in Kunming, Southwest China's Yunnan Province on October 11. It will also be made into a global youth declaration at the third Graduate Forum of the Global Alliance of Universities on Climate and will be announced at COP26.