China could learn a few lessons from Ontario as it works to develop clean technology and combat climate change, according to Premier Kathleen Wynne.

Following a closed-door meeting with Jiangsu province party secretary, Luo Zhijun, Wynne touted Ontario's efforts to reduce carbon and expressed her desire to work with China to spur innovation, share knowledge and encourage investment.

“There’s a very strong move in Jiangsu province and in China to reduce carbon,” she told reporters. “He [Zhijun] was talking to me about the fact that there are officials that are with him today who are going to be held accountable for those carbon reductions."

Ontario is taking action, Wynne said, including a bill that would force future governments to pass legislation if they want to build coal-fired power plants as well as moving forward with a cap-and-trade system.

“He [Jhijun] made the comment that we’re a developed country, they’re a developing country; and I said that makes it even more important,” she said. “It is our responsibility to work with China to allow them to avoid mistakes that we have made as we’ve developed over the decades and to share any innovation and technology that we have in order to allow them to develop in a sustainable way.”

The premier met with the Communist Part official on Bay Street Wednesday and signed a memorandum that touched on culture, technology and business co-operation. Wynne told reporters the MOU builds on a 30-year relationship between the two provinces.

Next month, the premier will be in China. Last year, her first trade mission to China saw Ontario attract 11 investment projects valued at $966 million. During that trip, she led a delegation of business leaders to Jiangsu.

Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Minister Jeff Leal and International Trade and Immigration Minister Michael Chan led an agri-food-themed trade mission to China in the spring that wrapped up with several new agreements between Ontario and Chinese businesses. Finance Minister Charles Sousa also promoted Ontario as a great investment for Chinese and Japanese companies during a trade mission to Asia in September.

This week, Wynne said that, although she has concerns about the Trans-Pacific Partnership’s potential effects on the province’s agricultural and automotive sectors, she emphasized Ontario should be seizing the opportunity offered by the 12-country free-trade pact.

"We know that we need access to those markets," Wynne told reporters after a speech at an Empire Club of Canada luncheon Monday afternoon. "It’s very important that we take hold of this as an opportunity."

Forging closer trade and investment ties with Asia and other fast-growing international markets is a key part of the Liberal government’s strategy to grow the provincial economy and make it more competitive.

Wednesday evening, Wynne was to deliver remarks at the launch of the 30th anniversary of the Ontario-Jiangsu friendship agreement at the Royal Ontario Museum.

Wynne talks climate change with Jiangsu province party secretary

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