News Center



Home News Center News

Prof. Justin Yifu Lin: Embracing Technology to Move the World Ahead

Mar 30-2023   



Tackling global warming is the common responsibility of humankind, said Prof. Justin Yifu Lin in the Boao Furm for Asia Annual Conference on March 29. He added that it must be acknowledged that the developing countries are in need of development, including through the industrialization of their agriculture, which calls for having enough technological innovation at their disposal, lowering the costs of green technology, and producing affordable renewable energy. He is Dean of the Institute of New Structural Economics at Peking University and Honorary Dean of the National School of Development.

 

Climate change is one of the major areas for global cooperation, Prof. Lin said, stressing that all nations should take on common yet differentiated responsibility. The developed countries should shoulder more responsibility, particularly by providing technology and funds to support their developing counterparts, he said.

 

On its part, China has pledged to adopt more forceful policies and measures, aiming to hit peak carbon emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060. Prof. Lin said that only by relying on green technology and renewable energy will such a promise be fulfilled, and China sees it as an opportunity. He believed that being green and achieving development can be realized simultaneously, and China will not only make good on its promise by also supply other countries with affordable renewable energy technology, thereby spurring the green transition of the world.

 

The advent of AI and other revolutionary technologies sparked heated debates among the participants of the forum. Prof. Lin said that lessons can be drawn from history: the inception of the Industrial Revolution also caused extensive concerns about job losses, but embracing technology advancement has led to productivity increase and human progress. Thanks to industrialization, people are working less days and less hours. Perhaps in the future we will only need to work one day a week – and just five hours on that working day – that is why we should welcome such an opportunity, he said.

Prof. Justin Yifu Lin: Embracing Technology to Move the World Ahead

Mar 30-2023   



Tackling global warming is the common responsibility of humankind, said Prof. Justin Yifu Lin in the Boao Furm for Asia Annual Conference on March 29. He added that it must be acknowledged that the developing countries are in need of development, including through the industrialization of their agriculture, which calls for having enough technological innovation at their disposal, lowering the costs of green technology, and producing affordable renewable energy. He is Dean of the Institute of New Structural Economics at Peking University and Honorary Dean of the National School of Development.

 

Climate change is one of the major areas for global cooperation, Prof. Lin said, stressing that all nations should take on common yet differentiated responsibility. The developed countries should shoulder more responsibility, particularly by providing technology and funds to support their developing counterparts, he said.

 

On its part, China has pledged to adopt more forceful policies and measures, aiming to hit peak carbon emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060. Prof. Lin said that only by relying on green technology and renewable energy will such a promise be fulfilled, and China sees it as an opportunity. He believed that being green and achieving development can be realized simultaneously, and China will not only make good on its promise by also supply other countries with affordable renewable energy technology, thereby spurring the green transition of the world.

 

The advent of AI and other revolutionary technologies sparked heated debates among the participants of the forum. Prof. Lin said that lessons can be drawn from history: the inception of the Industrial Revolution also caused extensive concerns about job losses, but embracing technology advancement has led to productivity increase and human progress. Thanks to industrialization, people are working less days and less hours. Perhaps in the future we will only need to work one day a week – and just five hours on that working day – that is why we should welcome such an opportunity, he said.