Jerry Brown to run new California-China Climate Policy Institute

Former California Gov. Jerry Brown (D-Calif.) will head up a climate change think tank at University of California-Berkeley, according to the Sacramento Bee.

Brown, who served as governor from 1975 to 1983 and again from 2011 to 2019, will help launch the California-China Climate Policy Institute in July and also serve as a visiting professor at the university, according to the newspaper.

{mosads}Brown will act as visiting director at U.C. Berkeley’s College of Natural Resources and Berkeley Law School as well as serving as California director of the institute.

Brown first announced the institute, a joint collaboration with California and China’s Tsinghua University, in 2017. The institute will aim to research technology to combat climate change.

The former governor has described China as the world’s “great hope” in fighting the issue, particularly in light of rollbacks of environmental regulations by the Trump administration, according to the newspaper.

“At a time of increasing tension between the United States and China, it’s imperative to foster serious and fruitful collaboration on climate change,” Brown said in a statement, according to the Bee. “This is the defining issue facing our two countries and I intend to continue working with China to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement — and beyond.”