Beijing looks to boost green technology development

Beijing will strive to ramp up the development of green technology in its municipal administrative center as it makes efforts to transform the center into a national demonstration zone for green development.

Yin Yong, mayor of the country’s capital city, made the remarks in a meeting about implementing a plan to promote the construction of the zone late last month, after the plan was approved by the State Council, China’s Cabinet.

Aside from exploring the establishment of institutional mechanisms compatible with green development, the mayor has especially emphasized the need to boost green technology development in the zone, which is located in Beijing’s Tongzhou district, according to a release made public following the meeting.

The zone should play a demonstrative role in promoting innovations in — and the application of — green technology, and proactively explore low-carbon development driven by such innovations, he said.

A batch of demonstration projects will be established in the center, he added.

The zone will accelerate the establishment of a market-oriented innovation system for the development of green technology, he said. Efforts will also be made to expand the range of fields of application for new power systems and intelligent technologies.

According to the plan approved by the State Council, the Beijing Municipal Administrative Center should be dedicated to accelerating its creation of a new development pattern, making the promotion of high-quality development a priority.

Under the guidance of the country’s climate targets, the zone should focus its low-carbon efforts in three key sectors — construction, transportation and industry, it said.

China aims to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and realize carbon neutrality before 2060. It should promote the optimization of industrial structure, the control of pollutant emissions, the conservation of the ecosystem and the tackling of climate change in a coordinated manner, the plan said.

The Beijing’s sub-city center should integrate the concept of green development into all aspects of socioeconomic development and form a land-use pattern that is conducive to green development, the release said.

It said the center will build itself into an important area that implements the leadership’s philosophy on ecological civilization, reform institutions for green development, demonstrate innovative green technologies and blaze a trail for the harmonious coexistence between humans and nature.

The designation of Tongzhou as Beijing’s administrative center was first proposed in a meeting of the Beijing Municipal Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012. Currently, many of Beijing’s municipal government departments have been moved to Tongzhou.

The district has made remarkable progress in the low-carbon transition in its energy sector in recent years.

In 2022, the proportion of green power in Tongzhou’s energy consumption mix reached 23.7 percent, up 57 percent from 2016, Kang Qi, deputy general manager of an electricity supply company in the district, told a news conference earlier this year.