The delegation included Mayor Jim Brainard of Carmel, Indiana; Mayor Barbara Buffaloe of Columbia, Missouri; Mayor Lee Harris of Shelby County, Tennessee; Mayor Chokwe Lumumba of Jackson, Mississippi; Mayor Kim Norton of Rochester, Minnesota; and Mayor Robyn Tannehill of Oxford, Mississippi. These leaders were selected for this sponsored trip based on their demonstrated thought leadership to represent municipalities of different sizes from the Mississippi River Basin in America’s Heartland. Two science advisors and one expert: Dr. Gabriel M. Filippelli and Dr. Lixin Wang from Indiana University, and Edmund Downie from Princeton University, provided support that ensured successful bilateral engagements.
This visit kicked off a historic two-way exchange as part of USHCA’s Yangtze-Mississippi Municipality Energy Transition Exchange project. This project aims to promote city-to-city best practice sharing between the communities along these two major rivers around energy transition, climate mitigation, and green economy.
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Over a ten-day period, just as the U.S.-China bilateral working group under the leadership of U.S. Special Envoy for Climate John Kerry and his Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua strived to complete the Sunnylands Statement on Enhancing Cooperation to Address the Climate Crisis in California, the Heartland mayors delegation visited five Chinese communities to put the bilateral cooperative framework into action at the local level.
October 30, 2023
October 31 - November 1, 2023
In the city of Wuhan, which is located in the mid-section of the Yangtze River, the delegates were greeted by the Vice Governor of Hubei as well as eight local mayors at the Hubei-Middle America Mayors Roundtable. The U.S. Mayors and their Chinese counterparts shared highlights of their respective cities in a roundtable, followed by in-depth discussions on opportunities for collaboration. The event witnessed the signing of a sister city agreement between the city of Carmel, Indiana and Xiangyang, Hubei, the newest pair of sister cities between the U.S. and China.
November 1 - 2, 2023
After a 2.5-hour high-speed train ride traveling along the Yangtze River, the delegation arrived in Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu Province, where they were welcomed by the Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Nanjing.
While in Nanjing, the delegation visited an electric bus charging station, where the U.S. Mayors were amazed to learn that it takes only twenty minutes to fully recharge one of Nanjing’s electric buses, and that 95% of the city’s 2,000 vehicle bus fleet are EV’s.
At the Xiaoxihu Neighborhood, a local developer explained how the Xiaoxihu Neighborhood Regeneration project, a unique public-private partnership project, had won the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Award for Cultural Heritage Conservation for innovative approaches to urban renewal.
The visit to Nanjing ended with the Nanjing-U.S. Heartland Cities Business Forum, where different departments of the Nanjing local government joined their mayor to share their roles and responsibilities for accomplishing Nanjing’s overall sustainable development goals. Mayor Tishaura Jones of St. Louis, Nanjing’s sister city, sent a virtual greeting for the forum.
Leaders from the renowned Johns-Hopkins Nanjing Center also joined the forum to inform the mayors of its unique, dual-language program which has trained many generations of experts on U.S.-China relations. This forum was yet another opportunity for the Heartland Mayors to promote their cities, including their unique culture, business environments, and leading educational institutions.
November 3 - 4, 2023
In the city of Suzhou, further down the Yangtze River, the Heartland Mayors were joined by over 100 state and local government representatives and sister city committee delegates from across the U.S. at the 5th China-U.S. Sister Cities Conference. All six Heartland mayors spoke on three concurrent panels: Economy & Employment, Education & Youth, and Climate Change & Environmental Protection.
The conference was followed by a collection of activities to showcase Suzhou, including Zhouzhuang Ancient Town, a UNESCO Cultural Heritage site, a special performance by the Suzhou Symphony Orchestra at the Suzhou Culture and Arts Center, Duke Kunshan University, and Starbucks China Coffee Innovation Park.
An entire afternoon in Suzhou was devoted to learning about how the Xiangcheng District of Suzhou is using centralized energy supply solutions and advanced energy saving technologies to provide heating and cooling to whole city blocks. Additional sharing and learning took place at a roundtable discussion on Suzhou’s Future Development and New Growth Engine at the Yangtze River Delta Carbon Neutrality Strategy Development Institute hosted by the Southeast University.
November 5, 2023
On the way to the final stop of this trip, Shanghai, the delegation visited Chongming Dongtan National Nature Reserve, Shanghai Aquatic Wildlife and Plant Conservation Research Center, as well as a rural domestic wastewater treatment station.
Upon arriving in Shanghai, the delegation met with the U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns and his team before joining a special reception hosted by U.S. Consul General to Shanghai Scott Walker and a visiting delegation of U.S. Agricultural Trade representatives.
Over 100 U.S. delegates converged in Shanghai to celebrate the first U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) U.S. Food and Agriculture Pavilion at the China International Import Expo (CIIE), one of the largest trade shows in the world where exporters come to develop markets in China. Ambassador Burns and USDA Acting Deputy Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Jason Hafemeister attended the Opening Ceremony, further illustrating the importance of the Chinese market. In 2022, U.S agricultural exports to China were $40.8 billion, which makes China the largest agricultural export market for the U.S. for the second consecutive year.
November 7, 2023
The capstone of the trip was the Yangtze-Mississippi Forum, where subject matter experts from both the U.S. and China presented their insights around climate impact to the river basin ecosystem, green development along river basins, legislative approach to protect the environment, and new findings around coastal resilience of the delta areas. The Yangtze-Mississippi Forum ended with Roundtable Discussions on Cooperation Mechanisms in the Large River Basins where the U.S. mayors spoke about their experiences addressing climate change in their local community, and how shared challenges in these communities can enable subnational leaders to develop shared solutions.
On the last day in Shanghai, McKinsey & Company’s Shanghai Office hosted the mayors’ delegation for further discussion around the opportunities and challenges that the U.S. and China are experiencing as both countries strive to reach their climate mitigation and energy transition goals.
The mayors returned home equipped with new ideas for promoting economic growth and sustainable development in their respective communities as well as newfound, collaborative relationships they plan to continue with dozens of their Chinese counterparts.
“USHCA is pleased to support open lines of communication with the People’s Republic of China through pragmatic sub-national dialogues around shared challenges,” remarked Min Fan, USHCA Executive Director who oversaw the organization of this historic delegation. “We wish to thank the Ford Foundation, Henry Luce Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, and Energy Foundation China for their support that made this delegation possible and the National Committee for U.S.-China Relations for sharing its expertise in leading delegations to China.”
In partnership with the six cities, USHCA plans to host a reciprocal delegation of Chinese city leaders in Fall 2024, convening the next Yangtze-Mississippi Forum in the American Heartland. The 2024 Yangtze-Mississippi Forum will continue the dialogue and best practice sharing between the two river basin communities to find innovative solutions to the shared challenges our communities face.