Energy transition is an essential element of the global effort to meet the objectives set out in the 2016 Paris Agreement on climate change. 

China and the European Union (EU) have agreed to work together to help deliver the financing needed to achieve energy transition, but more is needed.

To promote China–EU cooperation, this SIPRI Policy Brief recommends: (a) explor­ing a dedicated China–EU green finance initiative; (b) present­ing a joint China–EU proposal on clear definitions and standards of sustainable green financing to the International Partner ship on Sustainable Finance; (c) generating a joint curriculum to train staff in multilateral development banks, private investment banks, insurance companies and green banks; (d) pursuing joint finance for projects that find private capital difficult to attract; and (e) deploying independent evaluation teams to scrutinize how rating systems are applied in energy transition projects.