In 2009, China became Brazil's biggest trading partner. That same year, they co-founded a center in Rio de Janeiro which concentrates on climate change and technologies focused on innovations in energy. The partnership is essentially looking to make energy production compatible with environmental protection policies. Lucrecia Franco has more on how they're working to develop new low carbon technologies.

This was the first ocean wave powered plant in Latin America, an open sky laboratory in Brazil's northern coast. 

A pilot project that was tested in 2012 and proved it could generate electricity just like a hydroelectric dam. It has evolved since then but it's just one example of Brazil and China's green technology partnership.

CARLOS LEVI, COORDINATOR CHINA BRAZIL DEEPWATER INSTITUTE "We are foreseeing that by 2050, we will be able to contribute with 15 to 20 percent of the electricity consumed in the country through energy from the ocean."

It all began in 2009 with the founding of the China-Brazil Center for Climate and Energy Innovation. A partnership between two major engineer centers: COPPE linked to Rio de Janeiro's Federal University and China's Tsinghua University.

ROMILDO TOLEDO, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR CHINA-BRAZIL CENTER "I think that low carbon technologies are very important. Brazil needs it, China needs it, the world needs it. So I think the center is leading a very important area of knowledge. We need to promote this more and more : clean energy, sequestration of CO2, all this things impact a lot the life of people."

LUCRECIA FRANCO RIO DE JANEIRO One of the main goals of the center is academic exchanges between Brazilian and Chinese researchers that carry out studies on the challenges of climate change.

Several Chinese students are now in Rio working on deep water technologies like Bingqi Liu who is focusing on a project aimed at shifting oil and coal to clean wave power.

BINGQI LIU CHINESE STUDENT "If we use wave power we can reduce significantly the carbon dioxide generation."

Biodiesel is one of the center's most successful projects and has already moved into production. 

Other projects like ocean wave power could take some time, but experts here say, that along with wind, they are the future to reduce greenhouse emissions. Lucrecia Franco, CGTN, Rio de Janeiro.