Seven years ago, the lights went out across vast swaths of China. Massive blackouts, like those in California in 2000 and 2001, left residents and businesses without power. Among the regions hardest hit was Jiangsu Province, a growing industrial center north of Shanghai, whose skyrocketing -- and inefficient -- industrial and residential energy use was overtaxing its power grid.

Barbara Finamore, director of NRDC's China program, recalls Jiangsu's initial response to the energy conservation measures proposed by NRDC. "Ten years ago, they laughed," she says. But then the blackouts hit, and Jiangsu's leaders recognized pretty quickly the role that energy efficiency could play in stabilizing the province's power grid -- and its economy.

Jiangsu, with a population of 76 million, and California still have much in common. Each is a major economic engine in its country (Jiangsu's economy accounts for 10 percent of China's gross domestic product; California represents 11.5 percent of the U.S. GDP), and both are interested in developing cleaner sources of energy. Last October California and Jiangsu signed a formal agreement to promote cooperation between their governments, industries, and universities to boost energy efficiency and renewable energy use and to curb emissions.

This is the first time that such a deal has been struck between a Chinese province and a U.S. state with the specific aim of tackling climate change. NRDC's China program helped design the agreement's basic framework and will continue to "help ensure that both California and Jiangsu stay on the right track," says Mona Yew, the new director of the China energy-efficiency program.