Low-Carbon Megacity Encourages Green Growth

Summary

"Guang­zhou, a mega­city with a pop­u­la­tion ex­ceed­ing 13 mil­lion, is still in a stage of rapid eco­nomic de­vel­op­ment and urban con­struc­tion. In 2012, Guang­zhou launched the Pi­lot Low Car­bon City Im­ple­ment­a­tion Plan in an ef­fort to re­duce green­house emis­sions through sys­tem­atic meas­ures in the grow­ing city. The plan in­cludes the elim­in­a­tion of out­dated in­dus­trial ca­pa­city and equip­ment and the pro­mo­tion of en­ergy-ef­fi­cient tech­no­lo­gies and green, low-car­bon build­ings. Trans­port in­fra­struc­ture is also be­ing tar­geted, with a new pub­lic trans­port sys­tem mainly based on rail transit.

Both mar­ket mech­an­isms, such as lim­it­ing entry per­mits for high-car­bon pro­jects to con­trol green­house gas emis­sions, and in­sti­tu­tional mech­an­isms, such as stricter emis­sions stand­ards, have been used to pro­mote low-car­bon de­vel­op­ment un­der the plan. Green in­dus­tries have de­veloped quickly in the city, with an ad­ded value of $4.2 bil­lion in 2014, an 11.1% in­crease com­pared to the pre­vi­ous year. As a com­mit­ment to the plan, Guang­zhou an­nounced in 2015 it will reach its car­bon emis­sions peak by 2020."

Quote from: http://solutions.sustainia.me/solutions/low-carbon-megacity-encourages-green-growth/