In 2013 KAS Shanghai for the first time organized a training program for young German and Chinese journalists on the topic “sustainability in China”. The workshop showed that media and journalists play a crucial role as transmitter of new environment-related concepts and help to increase awareness and responsibility towards environment and sustainability.

Together with ECO-NOMY, the first independent Chinese magazine on green economy, the idea evolved to organize a workshop for young Chinese environmental journalists to publish articles on the topic sustainable energy supply. The aim was to introduce the participants to current environmental-political discussions and improve their basic journalistic skills.

At the beginning Dr. Yang Baiguo, head of the department for industry news from the news agency China Business News, stressed the potential influence of media on the consumer behavior. Jan Siefke, German press photographer, demonstrated through examples from his own work how visual communication (pictures, videos) can enhance the content of news texts and help to transmit key messages.

During the workshop, the participants wdealt with the question how readers of print media could be stimulated to develop interest in sustainability and how their awareness for sustainable actions could be enhanced?

Prof. Yu Yuefeng, engineer at Shanghai Jiaotong University, introduced latest developments of modern and efficient energy supply technologies. He pointed to the challenges that efforts to increase regenerative energy sources in China will meet. Miss Dr. Liu Xiying, expert for energy economics at Xiamen University, brought attention to the political-systematic framework for energy supply within the context of the massive Chinese urbanization process. In doing so she hinted at the possible course of action Chinese decision makers concerned with the creation of an energy supply system with fewer emissions could take.

These professional presentations as well as intensive group discussions served as the foundation for the reports and stories written by the young Chinese journalists:

• Supplying new infrastructure projects with so called “intelligent energy systems”
• The car brand TESLA and the market for electro cars in China
• The establishment of “Smart Cities” with the aim to develop energy supply systems with little emissions
• Modern carbon-neutral, yet coal-fired power plants

In the course of the workshop the participants visited relevant projects. They also conducted interviews with experts. A crucial phase of the workshop was when the participants presented their drafts to the trainers and other participants in order to elaborate on improvements and problem statements. A decisive role played Philipp Mattheis, correspondent for the German weekly WIRTSCHAFTSWOCHE in Shanghai. Through his own experiences as a journalist in China and Germany he was able to convey important basic concepts of modern journalism to the participants.