Contributing China’s Solutions to Global Climate Governance—Shanghai Jiao Tong University Launches the Research Project on Legal Safeguards for Sustainable Development in Oceanic and Island Regions

On the occasion of the global commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the Paris Agreement, China has officially submitted its new round of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and launched the “AI+” International Cooperation Initiative, integrating the digital–green twin transition into the core agenda of building a community with a shared future for humanity. From October 20 to 21, 2025, the conference “From Commitment to Implementation: Hainan’s Actions in the COP Process” was held in Baoting, Hainan Province. The event was jointly organized by the People’s Government of Baoting Li and Miao Autonomous County, the Chinese Society for Sustainable Development, and the Ningyuan Institute of Climate and Sustainable Development (Hainan), with support from the China–Europe Innovation Center for Sustainable Development (CEIC) and the United Nations University Artificial Intelligence Network. At the conference, Shanghai Jiao Tong University signed a landmark “Top-Level Mechanism Project” agreement with the Ningyuan Institute of Climate and Sustainable Development (Hainan). Peking University and Beijing Institute of Technology also signed agreements at the same ceremony. In attendance and witnessing the signing ceremony were Xie Zhenhua, China’s First Special Envoy for Climate Change Affairs; Laurence Tubiana, COP30 Special Envoy to Europe and CEO of the European Climate Foundation; Li Meng, Chairman of the Chinese Society for Sustainable Development and Former Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China; and Mu Kerui, Party Secretary of Baoting Li and Miao Autonomous County, Hainan Province.

At the conference, Professor Ji Weidong was invited as a panelist at the roundtable discussion titled “Shaping a New Paradigm for Global Future Cities and Climate Governance,” where he joined Beate Trankmann, UNDP Resident Representative in China; Cai Yaoze, Mayor of Baoting Li and Miao Autonomous County; Peter Ling-Vannerus (Ling Wanru), Chief Representative of SEB Beijing; and other experts to deliberate on the five key pathways—Indicators, Finance, Technology, Co-Governance, and Scenarios. Professor Ji proposed the SJTU proposition that “legal institutionalization is essential to bridge the last mile between climate commitments and implementation,” which received high affirmation from climate leaders including Special Envoys Xie Zhenhua and Tubiana. As the countdown to COP30 begins, Baoting’s practices in Hainan have become a microcosm of China’s subnational compliance efforts. Professor Ji Weidong stated that Shanghai Jiao Tong University will take the legal safeguards project as a fulcrum, working in synergy with UNDP, EU institutions, and domestic partners to advance a systemic solution featuring “mutual recognition of standards, legal safeguarding, and financial empowerment,” thereby providing a scalable “SJTU Model” for legal institutional design in marine and island climate governance and carbon-neutral communities in Global South countries.

This month, under the UNDP Green Digital Innovation Partnership (GDIP), Ji Weidong—Distinguished Professor of Humanities and Social Sciences at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Dean of the China Institute for Law and Society, and Co-Chair of the United Nations University Global AI Network Board—has spearheaded the launch of the research project “Legal Safeguards for Sustainable Development in Oceanic and Island Regions.” The project will leverage Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s multidisciplinary platforms in law, artificial intelligence, and green finance, and collaborate with leading domestic and international think tanks including Wuhan University, Fudan University, and the University of Copenhagen. It will focus on five dimensions—climate resilience, green energy transition, sustainable finance, cross-border dispute resolution, and AI-enabled ESG—to deliver a replicable and scalable “pentagonal” legal safeguard model for Baoting Li and Miao Autonomous County, Hainan Province, while offering a China-proposed solution to island economies in the Global South. This month, under the UNDP Green Digital Innovation Partnership (GDIP), Ji Weidong—Distinguished Professor of Humanities and Social Sciences at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Dean of the China Institute for Law and Society, and Co-Chair of the United Nations University Global AI Network Board—has spearheaded the launch of the research project “Legal Safeguards for Sustainable Development in Oceanic and Island Regions.” The project will leverage Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s multidisciplinary platforms in law, artificial intelligence, and green finance, and collaborate with leading domestic and international think tanks including Wuhan University, Fudan University, and the University of Copenhagen. It will focus on five dimensions—climate resilience, green energy transition, sustainable finance, cross-border dispute resolution, and AI-enabled ESG—to deliver a replicable and scalable “pentagonal” legal safeguard model for Baoting Li and Miao Autonomous County, Hainan Province, while offering a China-proposed solution to island economies in the Global South.

During the conference, on the morning of October 20, the research team of the “Legal Safeguards for Sustainable Development in Oceanic and Island Regions” project from Shanghai Jiao Tong University conducted field research at the Baoting Ningyuan Demonstration Zone, holding in-depth discussions with local departments—including the Development and Reform Commission, Justice Bureau, Ecology and Environment Bureau, People’s Bank of China branch, and Forestry Bureau—on topics such as tropical rainforest carbon sinks, digital certification of Li and Miao ethnic medicine, distributed photovoltaics, and farmland financing. On the morning of October 21, the kick-off meeting for the UNDP-GDIP legal research project was successfully held. Experts from the United Nations University, Fudan University, Wuhan University, Shanghai University, the University of Copenhagen, and Kyoto Women’s University (Japan) jointly reviewed and endorsed the proposal, marking the official launch of the project.

From “rule-making” to “rule implementation”,  Shanghai Jiao Tong University is now driving deep interdisciplinary integration among law, artificial intelligence,  green finance, and climate science to contribute SJTU’s wisdom and China’s solutions to global net-zero governance.