POCACITO - China

Low-carbon Transition Road Hangzhou pilot project

clf — Fri, 14 Oct 2016 09:24:43 +0000

China is currently facing the predicament that greenhouse gas emissions are increasing with the growth of the economy. In order to enable transition from the old development mode into a new low-carbon approach, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) started a low-carbon pilot program in 2010. Hangzhou has been selected as one of the pilot cities to implement a “low-carbon city pilot project”.

The project was implemented in two stages.The first stage lasted from 2010 to 2015, the second one started in 2015 and will last to 2020. Specific carbon emission reduction targets have been set during the initial planing period aiming to reduce carbon emissions by 20% per GDP unit until 2015 and 50% until 2020. As the city with the highest GDP among the first batch of Chinese cities chosen as low carbon project cities, Hangzhou has set a more ambitious carbon reduction target than the national one. Based on this target, Hangzhou municipal government drafted a more detailed plan, got sufficient local government policy support and covered more social sectors.The low-carbon development transition in Hangzhou was framed as “dominanted by low-carbon industries, based on low-carbon city life and building on low-carbon society”. The low-carbon project includes not only “Low-carbon Development” and “Solution for Climate Change” aspects but also “Ecological Civilization Construction”, “Circular Economy Development”, “Energy Conservation Demonstration”, etc., which cover industry, construction, transportation, ecosystems and waste management sectors.

Guangyuan's Low Carbon Re-construction

clf — Fri, 15 Apr 2016 09:58:56 +0000

Guangyuan City, a less developed city in southeast China, suffered great loss in the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake. In the re-construction period, the city has set up the "low carbon re-construction and development" goal and generally found a good way towards sustainable city development. Its experience with low carbon development is especially precious for other under-developed areas.

Qingdao - China's sailing city goes low carbon

clf — Thu, 14 Apr 2016 14:51:11 +0000

Qingdao, China's sailing city has great determination to solve problems as growing population and increasing emissions from transportation and energy consumption sectors. Following the "one industry, one industrial park, one enterprise and one district" concept as pilot promotion and absorbing excellent foreign experiences and good practices, the city is progressing steadily on its way to low carbon and sustainable development.

Waterway Restoration in Shanghai

clf — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 13:20:54 +0000

Suzhou Creek flows through Shanghai, one of the world’s largest megacities. Starting in the early 1900s, the creek had fallen victim to rapid urbanization and industrialization, carrying most of the city’s waste water. In 1996, the ‘Economic and Social Development Plan for Shanghai’ was adopted which kicked off the 12-year-long Suzhou Creek Rehabilitation Project. Since then, water quality has been substantially improved through the implementation of a combination of measures such as flushing, environmental dredging, re-aeration and interception of wastewater, elimination of wastewater disposal, wastewater treatment, the relocation of solid waste processing wharves and embankment reconstruction. The Shanghai Municipal Government has set a good example for cooperation in the fields of water resources and coastal management as well as effective decision making in order to allow for the implementation of such major projects in a relatively short time frame.

Low Carbon City Initiative Shanghai Pilot Project

clf — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 12:30:22 +0000

The most populous country with the one of fastest growing economies in the world, China faces pressing environmental issues brought on by its rapid urbanization, industrial expansion and energy consumption. Emphasis has been made by the government to adopt climate change and energy measures in recent policies to address these issues. In order to help China achieve its 2010 commitment to reduce its carbon intensity by 40% and to realise a 15% share of non-fossil fuels in energy consumption by 2020, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) announced a partnership with China’s cities to implement its Low Carbon City Initiative (LCCI) project. In 2008 Shanghai became one of the first two Chinese cities to join the LCCI project. The project sets its objective on green city development through energy efficiency, renewable energy and technologies that reduce carbon emissions.

Low-carbon and sustainable development

clf — Mon, 31 Aug 2015 11:29:42 +0000

Shenzhen City, established as “New Town”[1] in 1979, was the first Special Economic Zone and opening-up window of China. In the past 35 years, the city has witnessed a continuous and amazingly fast economic development. In 2014, the per capita GDP of Shenzhen exceeded 24,000 USD while the total population was approaching 11 million. On the other hand, since 2010, Shenzhen has put more and more great efforts into low-carbon city construction. Clear and achievable goals were set up and all kinds of effective measures indented to reach these goals were taken, including the foundation of a carbon trading system in 2013.

[1] “New Town”: planned city/ planned city development