Why this earth scientist sees China as ‘the great hope’ for climate research

Professor Benjamin Horton – who became dean of CityU’s energy and environment school on Earth Day, April 22 – said China was compelling for climate scientists because of the availability of funding, its advances in green technology, and government support for environmental research.

“China has been investing in green technology and reforestation, whereas other countries are pulling back,” Horton said.

“I’ve spent most of my career in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and Australia. I wanted to come here because I want to work in China – it is a superpower and they are pro-environment.”

Horton was most recently a professor in earth science at the Nanyang Technological University and director of the Earth Observatory of Singapore, which researches earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis and climate change in and around Southeast Asia.

He said Hong Kong had great potential to attract researchers from both mainland China and the West.

“If you were a young scientist and wanted to really make a difference on climate change, where would you go?” he said.

“You would look towards working in China because China has always had this ambition to be a world leader in science and has put a lot of money into facilities, infrastructure and educational programmes.”

“If China goes net zero, it is the only country that makes a difference to everyone around the planet,” he said.

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He said comparable global significance could only be achieved through the collective efforts of large blocs of countries such as those in Europe or Southeast Asia, adding that US emissions were mostly historical.

Horton noted that the US had also invested in climate science but China’s increasing number of research papers in top journals showed its growing significance in the field.

According to the Nature Index, for earth and environmental sciences research output, 15 of the top 20 global institutions were in China in the year starting from February 2024, with the Chinese Academy of Sciences at No 1. The top-ranking American institutions on the list were Nasa and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which were ranked 18th and 19th.

But America’s long history and expertise in climate research make it difficult for other nations to readily assume its role, according to Horton.

“You cannot flick a switch and say, ‘The US has been collecting data from Antarctica and Greenland for the last 80 years and making it freely available. China, can you take over tomorrow?’ That just does not happen,” he said.

“It is years of expertise in collecting accurate data that makes a difference. Climate is about climate change – you need to be able to compare the present with the past.”

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He said collaborative efforts were needed to address the global issue of climate change, particularly when it came to the open sharing of data.

“You have to have had agreements with countries built up around trust over many years to share data. That has not been a strength of China in the past,” he said.

“For climate change, if we are going to collect data on the South China Sea on ocean circulation funded by the Chinese government, that data needs to be freely available to everyone. That was what the US has pioneered,” he said, adding that a lot of health and environmental data was only collected and available for research purposes in the United States.

In his new role at CityU, Horton will establish a climate research centre that he hopes will become a hub for climate scientists at universities in Hong Kong, as well as researchers from other fields.

“This university has made it a priority to use innovation and technology for the good of the planet,” he said. “We cannot have sustainability without a stable climate.

“I need to create something fast-track because we are at a very crucial time in climate – we cannot wait 10 years.”

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Horton also aims to broaden climate literacy and sustainability knowledge among students from other disciplines at CityU.

“I want every doctor, lawyer, business [owner], engineer, artist and communicator to know that this is really important, and to always be asking the question: is it going to help save the environment?” he said.

“You ultimately want people who have knowledge of how the Earth works to be the decision makers in all decisions.”

He gave the example of countries negotiating with the Trump administration on tariffs, saying that the environment could have been on their agendas if decision makers were aware of the climate.

“I would have loved it if someone had said, ‘We’ll take in these products, but they have to be carbon neutral’. It just was not there. And I would love it if the Chinese in their negotiations with Trump could say, ‘We want to deal only with industries that respect the environment’,” Horton said.

“Even when you are dealing with tariffs that are affecting inflation, the stock market and your pension, the environment is key.”