Many of California's ambitious state goals started in cities first," said Kate Meiss, executive director ofthe Local Government Commission. He said that most Chinese cities face a challenge to transform from energy-intensive industries to new-energy industries. Less than 10 percent of Chinese cities are developed, and the pressure of reducing emissions comes from changing consumption behavior, he explained. More than 200 Chinese cities are "shrinking", with populations declining, but the local leaders still want expansion. For those cities, China should curb their desire to expand and help retrain the labor forces of industries heavily reliant on energy for new-energy industries, said Wang.