Winner of Lui Che Woo Prize, Xie Zhenhua, donates prize money to Tsinghua

--Tsinghua to promote establishment of World’s First-Class Universities’ Climate Change Alliance

On November 3rd, Xie Zhenhua, China’s special representative on climate change and Vice Chairman of the Committee of Population, Resources and Environment of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), attended a donation ceremony held at Tsinghua University and donated a total of 20 million Hong Kong dollars to the Tsinghua University Education Foundation. The amount donated was Mr. Xie’s prize money from winning the Lui Che Woo Prize (Sustainability Prize).

Qiu Yong, President of Tsinghua University, Yang Bin, Vice President of Tsinghua University, and He Jiankun, former Deputy President of Tsinghua and Deputy Director of the National Expert Committee on Climate Change, were also present at the donation ceremony.

Xie Zhenhua said that as a Tsinghua alumnus, he was very willing to donate the prize money to his alma mater for the establishment of the "Global Climate Change and Green Development Fund", whose purpose is to support international cooperation for green and low carbon development and climate change, to facilitate related projects, and to provide scholarships for students in related disciplines. Mr. Xie hoped the donation would help with Tsinghua’s execution of this relevant work and its discipline construction, and that it would strengthen exchange and collaboration between Tsinghua and the wider world, thus contributing to the building of a community of common destiny for all mankind.

In his speech, President Qiu expressed his gratitude to Xie Zhenhua on behalf of the university, and announced that Tsinghua University would set up the Institute of Research on Climate Change and Sustainable Development. In addition, Tsinghua will promote the establishment of the World First-Class Universities’ Climate Change Alliance, which will give top universities a leading role in addressing global climate change.

After the donation ceremony, Mr Xie delivered a keynote speech entitled "Firm Confidence and Active Promotion of Global Climate Governance", expounding on the progress of global climate governance, the major achievements of the Paris Agreement, and China's actions and accomplishments in dealing with the climate issue.