SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- University of California at Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory on Wednesday announced that they would work with China's elite Tsinghua University to join efforts on clean energy research.

UC Berkeley said the three parties signed a Memorandum of Understanding a day earlier in Paris, France, where world leaders have gathered for the United Nations climate conference, to form a joint research center.

The center, to be known as the Berkeley Tsinghua Joint Research Center on Energy and Climate Change, will be tasked with developing "scientifically based clean energy solutions and the next generation of leaders to champion those solutions."

The core activity of the center will be conducting scientific research and analysis on clean energy solutions for China, focusing on areas offering the greatest impact, such as low-carbon cities, carbon markets, and clean energy system planning and integration.

It will also build outreach programs to train officials, business executives and graduate students, and support a scholars exchange program with Chinese universities, businesses and think tanks.

UC Berkeley's contributions will be led by the Berkeley Energy and Climate Institute (BECI), believed to be the largest energy and climate consortium in the United States.

BECI Director Paul Wright, who is also a UC Berkeley professor of mechanical engineering, said "now, combined with the power of the Tsinghua scientists, we have the ability to address the science, engineering, policy, commerce, and education needed to rapidly move the world to clean energy solutions."

At Tsinghua, the collaboration will be led by He Jiankun, former vice president of Tsinghua University and currently the director of the Institute of Low Carbon Economy and a professor of engineering physics.