Terry Cooke

Title : Implementing low-carbon built environment solutions at scale and speed

Abstract:

China Partnership of Greater Philadelphia (CPGP) forged the Greater Philadelphia (PHL)-Tianjin Economic-technological Development Area (TEDA) partnership in 2011. In July 2014, the PHL-TEDA partnership formally joined the U.S.- China EcoPartnership program to jumpstart innovative “Urban Clean Energy Infrastructure” solutions in both regions. This unique combination of real-world technology demonstrations and product showcases was designed to introduce viable new infrastructure breakthroughs quickly into Chinese and U.S. markets. Urban clean energy infrastructure is a sizable, and yet largely untapped opportunity. The PHL-TEDA EcoPartnership serves as an important subnational resource to assist municipalities in the U.S. and China to integrate, at the practical level, their U.S.-China Sustainable City planning efforts with commercially relevant, on- the-ground urban infrastructure project experience. Among U.S.-China EcoPartnerships, CPGP’s PHL-TEDA EcoPartnership is unique in its design as an open platform to facilitate collaboration among businesses, local governments and NGO non-profits. The objective of this collaboration is to bring to scale sustainable-city-type BE Better technologies (built environment technologies that are more energy-efficient, smarter and healthier) to China and to promote sustainable economic development in the U.S. The mechanism for scaling these BE Better technologies is through China’s national-level industrial parks. The initial stage focuses on China’s northeastern Jing-Jin-Ji region (comprising Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei Province) through collaborations with Green Development Leaguemember National Economic-Technological Development Zones (NETDZ) in Beijing, Tianjin and Langfang. The larger goal is to position for second-stage, nation-wide expansion of the BE Better model through the Green Development League’s 36 member-NETDZs nationwide and through the Ministry of Commerce’s national Eco Park program. The three dimensions of ‘better’ in the BE Better model are (1) greater energy-efficiency, (2) ‘smarter’ (more Internet of Things connected with greater IoT security and, for industrial users, cleaner and smarter manufacturing processes), and (3) healthier for all occupants of the built environment. CPGP is focusing on industrial park applications in China because our TEDA partner serves as Secretary General to the Green Development League’s nationwide network of 36 top NETDZ industrial parks and also leads the PRC Ministry of Commerce’s efforts to lower carbon and greenhouse gas emissions across its full network of 219 NETDZs throughout China. In order to give heft and reach to our BE Better program we rely on three primary sets of industry association partnerships: (1) for ‘more energy efficient,’ with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, former U.S.-China Eco Partnership member U.S. Business Council for Sustainable Development, and the U.S. Green Building Council; (2) for ‘smarter,’ with the Industrial Internet Consortium and The IoT Consortium (for connectivity) and with The National Association of Manufacturers (for cleaner and smarter manufacturing); and (3) for ‘healthier,’ with the International WELL Building Institute and with industry leader Delos. Around these three industry nodes, we are nurturing collaborative ‘eco-systems’ comprising architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) companies and a broad array of private sector stakeholder companies, ranging from small entrepreneurs to U.S.-based multinationals.

Biography:

Terry Cooke founded the China Partnership of Greater Philadelphia in 2011 as a 501c3 public-private platform to accelerate commercial and research collaboration between the Greater Philadelphia region and China in clean energy and energy-efficient buildings. One of only 36 competitively-selected current EcoPartnerships under the U.S.-China Ten Year Framework, CPGP’s PHL-TEDA EcoPartnership is now focusing on “energy-efficient, smart and healthy industrial park built environments” and a Sino-U.S. Eco Park showcase. Terry is currently teaching a course in the University of Pennsylvania’s international Masters of Public Administration degree-program under Fox Leadership International and the School of Arts & Sciences. CPGP serves as the principal case-study for the course “China and the U.S. in the 21st Century: Sub-National Sino-American Relations.” Terry was a 2010 Public Policy Scholar with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington D.C. His book Sustaining U.S.-China Cooperation in Clean Energy was published by the Wilson’s Center’s Kissinger Institute in September 2012. Previously from 2006-8, Terry served as Director for Asian Corporate Partnership at the World Economic Forum, the host of the Davos Annual Meeting and the ‘Summer Davos’ in China. In 2003, Terry retired with the rank of Counselor as a career-member of the U.S. Senior Foreign Commercial Service following tours in Taipei, Berlin, Tokyo & Shanghai. Terry received his Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology from the University of California at Berkeley in 1985, his MA from UCB in 1981 and his BA from Princeton University in 1976.