Today, the Paulson Institute and Tsinghua University signed a Memorandum of Cooperation to deepen the two institutions’ work together, with the broad goal of enhancing U.S.-China collaboration on green development and accelerating Tsinghua’s transition towards becoming a more international an innovative university. The MOU signing was witnessed by Henry M. Paulson, Jr., chairman of the Paulson Institute, and Ms. Xu Chen, Chairperson of Tsinghua University Council.
Specifically, the Paulson Institute and Tsinghua will collaborate on the Institute’s Prize for Sustainable Cities, which was launched in 2013 to help China achieve its ambitious climate, air quality, and economic growth goals as it urbanizes rapidly. Tsinghua and the Institute will co-sponsor the Prize starting from 2017, with the aim of highlighting and awarding a project in China each year that represents a best practice in sustainable urbanization, to inspire the spread of environmental and economic solutions.
In addition, the Paulson Institute and Tsinghua will collaborate on a series of prospective research initiatives, including China’s sustainable economic transition, sustainable urbanization, the energy revolution, and environmental governance, as well as many existing projects, such as the Institute’s Mayors Training Program, which has been supported by Tsinghua for several years.