In the lead-up to Earth Day, Yale Center Beijing hosted a series of programs featuring Luke Sanford from April 9 to 11, examining the evolving role of carbon credits and the complexities of environmental policymaking.

By Xinfei Zhang

As global momentum builds around climate action, efforts to design effective environmental policies have taken on increasing urgency. From carbon markets to broader governance frameworks, debates continue over how best to achieve meaningful and durable climate outcomes.

Against this backdrop, and in the lead-up to Earth Day 2026—themed “Our Power, Our Planet”—Luke Sanford, Assistant Professor of Environmental Policy and Governance at the Yale School of the Environment, led a series of events at Yale Center Beijing from April 9 to 11, engaging audiences in China on the challenges and opportunities of climate solutions and environmental policymaking.
 

Sanford’s visit to Beijing began with a public lecture on “Promises and Pitfalls of Nature-Based Carbon Credits,” and culminated in a two-day workshop as part of Yale Center Beijing’s ongoing SMART Talks on Climate Change focused on “Environmental Policymaking: From Local to Global.” The sessions brought together nearly 100 participants, both in-person and online, for in-depth discussions on carbon markets, policy design, and a case-based analytic approach to environmental governance across different contexts.

Sanford previously contributed to the series as an online speaker in 2024. His return to Beijing this year marked both a continuation of the initiative and the series’ first in-person program since its launch in 2021.

“It is a pleasure to return to China and engage with audiences at Yale Center Beijing in person for the first time,” Sanford said. “While audiences in China may be more reserved at first, I find in-person exchanges especially meaningful, as they offer valuable opportunities to hear a wide range of perspectives.”

He also noted that while nature-based carbon credits face significant challenges, they remain a viable solution if supported by more transparent and robust baselines, as well as improved methods such as machine learning to better determine additionality.

As on Yale’s campus, Sanford remained highly engaged throughout the discussion, using his fluent Chinese to connect more closely with local participants.

One participant observed that the sessions not only clarified key concepts but also “offered a structured way to examine how environmental policies are designed and how different issues are addressed.”

Environmental issues have long been a focus of Yale Center Beijing programming. Since 2021, the center has initiated and co-hosted its flagship SMART Talks on Climate Change series, convening nearly 50 leading scholars, practitioners, and policymakers, including William Nordhaus BA ’63, MA ’73, Sterling Professor of Economics at Yale and 2018 Nobel Laureate in Economics. The series has engaged the next generation of young leaders with insights into some of the most pressing challenges facing the planet, reaching hundreds of participants from across Asia and the US to date.