3 May 2012: European Commission President José Manuel Durão Barroso and Chinese Vice-Premier Li Keqiang met in Brussels, Belgium, in the First EU-China High Level Meeting on Energy, which saw the signing of a number of agreements and declarations.

Specifically, the leaders signed a Joint Declaration on EU-China Partnership on Urbanization, an EU-China Joint Declaration on Energy Security and a Joint Statement for Enhanced Cooperation on Electricity Markets between the European Commission and the State Electricity Regulatory Commission of China.

Commission President Barroso underscored the importance of sustainable energy production and use for sustainable development in Europe. He highlighted Europe’s 20-20-20 commitment to reduce green house gas (GHG) emissions by 20%, double the share of renewable energy in the energy mix and improve energy efficiency by 20%, all by 2020. He underscored that cooperation and partnerships on energy between the EU and China allow Europe to share its experiences in unifying electricity markets, improving energy demand management and clean and renewable energy development.

The EU-China High Level Meeting on Energy marks a new step in EU-China cooperation on the issue of energy, but is built on existing partnerships, including a series of dialogues on energy policies ranging from clean coal technology, renewable energy, and energy efficiency to regulatory frameworks for energy. In addition, the EU-China Clean Energy Centre was established at Tsinghau University, a project in Shanghai trains architects and engineers to work on high efficiency buildings and next year an EU-China Renewable Energy Masters Degree will be launched at Wuhan University. [European Commission Press Release] [European Commission President Barroso’s Speech][Further speeches and links to agreements]