As it implements policy reforms, China needs think tanks to work across traditional divisions of government, contest received wisdom, and produce new ideas.  R. Andreas Kraemer of Ecologic Institute addressed the importance of environmental think tanks in jointly meeting global challenges at the conference on "Think Tanks in Global Comparison – Modes of Operations" convened by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation and Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China, on 25 and 26 August 2010.

Key issues covered by the conference were:

• Sorting out Think Tanks – Surveys and criteria for classification
• Country, Sector and Case Reports on Think Tanks
• Think Tanks in China, Germany, India, the UK, and the US
• Foreign Policy Think Tanks
• Environmental Policy Think Tanks
• Influence and Independence of Think Tanks
• Towards a global network of Think Tanks?

The presentation by R. Andreas Kraemer is available for download in Chinese [pdf, 549 KB] and English [pdf, 1.9 MB].

The proceedings of the conference will be published as a special journal edition.

Further links:

• Ecologic Institute Presentation: The role of think tanks in the EU environmental policy process, Ingmar von Homeyer, 30 April 2010, Bruges
• Dinner Dialogue: Environmental Think Tanks as Actors and Research Objects – Comparing the U.S. and EU Perspectives, James McGann, Berlin, 12 October 2009
• Dinner Dialogue: The Role of Think Tanks in International Environmental Governance – Sonja Wälti, Washington DC, 20 April 2009
• Ecologic Institute Project:  Promoting Environmental Public Interest Litigation in China