Shenzhen at the vanguard of low-carbon development

Role model for upgrade

The gross domestic product of the Low-Carbon City reached 16.3 billion yuan in 2020. While the "value added" of industrial enterprises in the zone－a reference to industry's contribution to the city's GDP－h(huán)it 9.3 billion yuan in 2020, their energy consumption per unit of GDP was only 0.073 tons of standard coal per 10,000 yuan. That is just 43 percent of Shenzhen's average level of 0.17, which itself is on par with that of developed countries.

The zone provides a role model for Shenzhen in its industrial transformation and upgrade.

Although the use of clean energy in Shenzhen has reached nearly 80 percent, the city is still facing heavy pressure, said Yu Jing, deputy director of the Development and Reform Commission of Shenzhen Municipality.

The city needs to further optimize its energy structure and promote industrial transformation and upgrade by widening the application of new energy in transportation, reducing energy use in construction, and accelerating a change in people's lifestyles, she said in an earlier speech.

The city has taken various steps to achieve that. In transportation, the government has promoted the application of new energy vehicles, and all buses and taxis in Shenzhen are electric.

The Sustainable Development Report of Shenzhen (2016-21), jointly published by Shenzhen University and internet giant Tencent, said that the proportion of new energy vehicles in Shenzhen rose from 2.51 percent in 2016 to 14.35 percent in 2021. The share of green travel increased from 49.9 percent to 73.54 percent in that same period.

In the field of construction, an additional 16 million square meters of green buildings are expected to be built in Shenzhen this year, then-mayor Qin Weizhong said in the latest government work report in April.

The Shenzhen Municipal People's Congress has passed a green construction regulation, which will take effect in July, providing a legal guarantee for the city's overall development.

"Shenzhen has been leading the country in the field of green architecture. We can see that from the upgrade of industry standards, application of new technologies, industry development and public recognition," said Niu Runzhuo, a senior engineer at the Shenzhen Institute of Building Research who has participated in the design of many green buildings in Shenzhen.

"The launch of the regulation will better oversee the market, helping Shenzhen progress faster in the field."

Besides reducing energy-intensive and highly polluting industries, Shenzhen is also ramping up efforts to drive low-carbon development by engaging the cooperation of smaller businesses and ordinary citizens.