On January 11, 2022, Mr. Lin Xu, Chairman of China-U.S. Green Fund (CUGF) and Mr. Jian Ma, Deputy Representative of UNIDO for China, visited the International Hydrogen Energy Center (IHEC). Mr. Qinxian Jin, Vice Secretary General of Tsinghua University, also the Director of Beijing Tsinghua Industrial R&D Institute (BTIRDI) and Mr. Xiaolong Fu, Associate Director of BTIRDI, attended the meeting.

Chairman Xu visited Global Health Drug Discovery Institute (GHDDI), Beijing Medical Robotics Industry Innovation Center (IMC) and other innovative institutes under BTIRDI in Zhongguancun Dongsheng International Science Park. Especially, the visit focused on the IHEC Beijing headquarter, where the international hydrogen exhibition hall shows the complete industry chain of the production, storage, transportation and application of hydrogen energy in a full view, as well as the progress of the UNIDO hydrogen energy projects and the current development situation of hydrogen energy industry in the UK, Australia, Japan, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands and other countries, which has been highly appreciated by Mr. Xu. The two sides also held a meeting in the IHEC.

During the talks, Director Jin made an introduction to the basic situation of Tsinghua university and BTIRDI. Mr. Jin said that hydrogen energy is a priority of the strategy of BTIRDI, for which the institute has cultivated Sinohytec and other leading science and technology companies in the field. Recently, with the support of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology and the China International Center for Economic and Technical Exchanges, BTIRDI cooperated with UNIDO to build the IHEC, and successfully held the first International Hydrogen Energy Industry Development Forum, which was highly praised by governments, scientific research institutions and leading enterprises. At present, the IHEC is collaborating with world’s top scientific research institutions and leading enterprises to jointly work on hydrogen energy technology R&D, equipment manufacturing and application demonstration. The center is building international demonstration zones of hydrogen energy industry in Daxing District, Beijing; Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province; and Baotou, Inner Mongolia. The IHEC expects further exploration and cooperation with CUGF in the future, in a bid to continuously promote global technology research and industry development of hydrogen energy.

Mr. Xu also briefed the IHEC side on the situation of China-U.S. Green Fund. According to him, CUGF is one of the important strategic cooperation projects set up during President Xi’s visit to the U.S. in 2015. In 2016, it was co-sponsored by Liu He, current Vice Premier of the State Council and then Director of the General Office of the Central Leading Group for Financial and Economic Affairs, and Henry M. Paulson, Jr., former U.S. Treasury Secretary. With the permission of the State Council, the fund was established. CUGF defined itself as the benchmark of green equity investment and the performer for the commercialization of China-U.S. bilateral green cooperation framework. It aims to promote the green and low-carbon transformation and development of China’s economy by focusing on green equity investment. As an important non-governmental exchange platform between the two sides on green innovation and development, it could foster the bilateral commercial cooperation in the fields of green finance and green technology. CUGF expects close cooperation with BTIRDI and IHEC in the future, with the aim of finding more quality projects in green energy field to make investment in, and of attracting more cross-border platforms in the field of hydrogen energy, in a bid to jointly promote the green and low-carbon transformation and development of China’s economy.

Mr. Xin Xu, Investment Director of Equity Investment Department of CUGF; Ms. April Qian, Head of Global Affairs of Beijing Tsinghua Industrial R&D Institute, also attended the above-mentioned event and meeting.