City at vanguard of low-carbon growth
Xiao Tianfa had lived for almost 40 years in the Xinqiao historical residential area, a group of walled houses of the Hakka people in Longgang district of Shenzhen. The 84-yearold was born, grew up and spent half of his life there.
Although he moved to a nearby place in the late 1970s, he still comes to visit his old house from time to time.
Referring to the Hakka village where his previous home is located, he said: “I have witnessed its remarkable change from a rundown area to a modern example of low-carbon development.
“In the past, houses in the village were filled with waste. Roof tiles could fall off anytime. The environment was quite poor at the time.”
But now, it has become the first “near-zero carbon” community in Shenzhen and a pilot demonstration area for the city’s low-carbon development, featuring more than 140 types of “green” technology.
The village, which covers 36,000 square meters (387,500 square feet) and has about 400 residents, produces 680 metric tons of carbon a year, of which 600 tons are offset by using green technology, said Zhang Yalong, executive dean of the Shenzhen Institute of Sustainable Development.
Reducing the remaining 80 tons of carbon is left to local residents in an initiative to promote green living, he said.“They each have a personal carbon account and are encouraged to cut their carbon emissions by changing living habits, modes of transport and other things.”
The transformation of Xinqiao reflects how Shenzhen is pressing ahead with the green transition to contribute to helping fulfill China’s national goal of peaking carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060.
According to government figures, Shenzhen’s carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP dropped by about 70% in 2020 compared with the level in 2005.
As part of its green development efforts, the city has established a new ecological accounting system that focuses on contributions made by resources, the environment and ecology to the local economy.
The gross ecosystem product, or GEP, system was launched in March last year and is the first complete system of its kind in the country.
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, GEP is “the total value of final ecosystem goods and services supplied to human well-being in a region annually, and can be measured in terms of biophysical value and monetary value”. Shenzhen generated 130.4 billion yuan ($19.5 billion) in GEP in 2020, the city says.
Carbon trading has also played a significant role in Shenzhen’s green drive. The city began its carbon trading operation, the first in the country, at the China Emissions Exchange in June 2013.
The city’s carbon trading market accounted for 13% of the country’s total in terms of both transaction volume and value by the end of 2020.
Shenzhen International LowCarbon City, the only key development zone in Shenzhen that features green development, is directly across the small river that runs past the Xinqiao historical residential area.
Since the project was launched in 2012, an effort has been made to develop the 53-square-kilometer (13,100 acres) zone into a hub for the low-carbon industry and it has been a great progress.
A number of architecture projects in the zone have been built using the highest level of green building standards.