Interpretation of the status quo of China's low-carbon cities
2018-05-14 14:01:12
In the past year, the four words “low-carbon cities†have been warming faster in China than global warming. In this year's national "**," it holds a 10% monopoly; knocking it into Baidu, the Chinese search engine, will bring out 36 million search results in 0.004 seconds.
According to incomplete statistics, there are currently at least 100 cities in China that have proposed the slogan of creating "low-carbon cities." No province is absent. The newest member is Lhasa, the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region, and plans to become a solar city based on solar energy.
However, Jiang Kezheng, a researcher at the Energy Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission, said in an exclusive interview with the China Youth Daily: “China does not have a truly low-carbon city.â€
At the United Nations annual climate change summit in Cancun, which opened on November 29th, he has a clear mandate as a member of the Chinese government delegation - to actively participate in the side event with the theme of "low-carbon city", and to "learn from others" Exchange of experience". However, he admitted that he will not make keynote speeches at the side events.
Before the Copenhagen conference, it may have been political risk. After the Copenhagen conference, it became a political opportunity. Low-carbon cities not only have a large number of China's territory, but also have a variety of development paths. In Baoding City, Hebei Province, the “Diangu Buildingâ€, which is covered with solar photovoltaic panels, has become a new landmark of this historic city; Shandong’s “Sun City†reputation has surpassed the trend of “Dezhou Chickenâ€, a solar street lamp. Standing in the streets and lanes; the Shenzhen government chose to build a joint project with the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development to give the city a “low-carbon ecological demonstration cityâ€; in Jiande City, Zhejiang Province, an air-conditioning plug-in was eliminated. The general mobilization of the city is going on vigorously.
In Jiang Kezhen’s opinion, these enthusiasms are worth encouraging, but it is difficult to be “realâ€.
At present, the industry-recognized low-carbon city standard is to incorporate the low-carbon plans of the three major sources of carbon emissions from buildings, transportation, and industry into the overall operation plan of the city, and it can significantly reduce the carbon emissions of the entire city.
This concept started in the carbon reduction plan published by the former mayor of London, Livingston, in 2007, “Today's Action, Waiting for the Futureâ€. In the plan, Livingston locked London's carbon dioxide emission reduction target by 2025 to 60% of 1990 levels. Denmark's Copenhagen City is a model of “low-carbon cityâ€. From 1995 to 2005, this city of 1.2 million people reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 20%.
In China, not only is there not a city that has a history of quantifiable emissions reduction, but there are also many strange conditions for the construction of low-carbon cities. Some of them are "old bottles of new wine", real estate development in the name of low carbon; others are "low-end, low-carbon", some new energy industrial parks under the banner of low carbon, and they still remain at the low end of equipment manufacturing. Links; there are "hanging sheep to sell dog meat", "burning high-carbon coal, producing low-carbon energy-saving lamps."
"Even if it is an image project, it is stronger than it is not. At least, it shows that we value this image!" said Zhuang Guiyang, deputy secretary-general of the Center for Sustainable Development at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. In his opinion, the concept of a low-carbon city can be widely accepted and it is not easy in itself.
A few years ago, his research organization had contacted the relevant departments of various provinces and cities on the cooperation of low-carbon urban development projects, but most of the responsible persons all regarded the issue of “not knowing the attitude of the country in climate negotiationsâ€. I declined the invitation to cooperate.
The Global Climate Conference, which was held in Copenhagen at the end of last year, became a watershed. The full name of the conference was the 15th meeting of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The climate conference held in the Mexican resort Cancun was the 16th meeting of the Parties.
According to incomplete statistics, there are currently at least 100 cities in China that have proposed the slogan of creating "low-carbon cities." No province is absent. The newest member is Lhasa, the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region, and plans to become a solar city based on solar energy.
However, Jiang Kezheng, a researcher at the Energy Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission, said in an exclusive interview with the China Youth Daily: “China does not have a truly low-carbon city.â€
At the United Nations annual climate change summit in Cancun, which opened on November 29th, he has a clear mandate as a member of the Chinese government delegation - to actively participate in the side event with the theme of "low-carbon city", and to "learn from others" Exchange of experience". However, he admitted that he will not make keynote speeches at the side events.
Before the Copenhagen conference, it may have been political risk. After the Copenhagen conference, it became a political opportunity. Low-carbon cities not only have a large number of China's territory, but also have a variety of development paths. In Baoding City, Hebei Province, the “Diangu Buildingâ€, which is covered with solar photovoltaic panels, has become a new landmark of this historic city; Shandong’s “Sun City†reputation has surpassed the trend of “Dezhou Chickenâ€, a solar street lamp. Standing in the streets and lanes; the Shenzhen government chose to build a joint project with the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development to give the city a “low-carbon ecological demonstration cityâ€; in Jiande City, Zhejiang Province, an air-conditioning plug-in was eliminated. The general mobilization of the city is going on vigorously.
In Jiang Kezhen’s opinion, these enthusiasms are worth encouraging, but it is difficult to be “realâ€.
At present, the industry-recognized low-carbon city standard is to incorporate the low-carbon plans of the three major sources of carbon emissions from buildings, transportation, and industry into the overall operation plan of the city, and it can significantly reduce the carbon emissions of the entire city.
This concept started in the carbon reduction plan published by the former mayor of London, Livingston, in 2007, “Today's Action, Waiting for the Futureâ€. In the plan, Livingston locked London's carbon dioxide emission reduction target by 2025 to 60% of 1990 levels. Denmark's Copenhagen City is a model of “low-carbon cityâ€. From 1995 to 2005, this city of 1.2 million people reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 20%.
In China, not only is there not a city that has a history of quantifiable emissions reduction, but there are also many strange conditions for the construction of low-carbon cities. Some of them are "old bottles of new wine", real estate development in the name of low carbon; others are "low-end, low-carbon", some new energy industrial parks under the banner of low carbon, and they still remain at the low end of equipment manufacturing. Links; there are "hanging sheep to sell dog meat", "burning high-carbon coal, producing low-carbon energy-saving lamps."
"Even if it is an image project, it is stronger than it is not. At least, it shows that we value this image!" said Zhuang Guiyang, deputy secretary-general of the Center for Sustainable Development at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. In his opinion, the concept of a low-carbon city can be widely accepted and it is not easy in itself.
A few years ago, his research organization had contacted the relevant departments of various provinces and cities on the cooperation of low-carbon urban development projects, but most of the responsible persons all regarded the issue of “not knowing the attitude of the country in climate negotiationsâ€. I declined the invitation to cooperate.
The Global Climate Conference, which was held in Copenhagen at the end of last year, became a watershed. The full name of the conference was the 15th meeting of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The climate conference held in the Mexican resort Cancun was the 16th meeting of the Parties.