China News Agency, Xi'an, July 12 (Reporter Ruan Yulin) "Progress Evaluation Report on National Low Carbon City Pilot Work" was released on the 12th at the 2023 National Low Carbon Day Home Event held in Xi'an. The evaluation report showed that among the cities with excellent evaluation results, Beijing, Shenzhen, and Yantai ranked among the top.

To encourage local governments to explore green and low-carbon development paths according to local conditions, China has launched 81 low-carbon city pilot projects in three batches since 2010, covering cities (districts, counties) with different regions, development levels, resource endowments, and work foundations.

According to Xu Huaqing, Director of the National Center for Climate Change Strategy Research and International Cooperation, this evaluation was undertaken by the National Center for Climate Change Strategy Research and International Cooperation. According to the "low-carbon city pilot progress evaluation index system", the work progress of the national low-carbon pilot cities was evaluated from five aspects: basic progress of low-carbon development, construction of low-carbon development mechanism and system, implementation and effectiveness of low-carbon development tasks.

The evaluation results show that the average score of the pilot city is 79.2, with a maximum score of 93.7 and a minimum score of 68.9. The cities with excellent evaluation results include Beijing, Shenzhen, Yantai, Weifang, Quzhou, Changzhou, Chongqing, Shanghai, Jinan, Ganzhou, Guangzhou, Hefei, Ankang, Zhenjiang, Chengdu, Hangzhou, etc.

From 2017 to 2022, pilot cities supported an average annual growth rate of 5.8% of gross domestic product (GDP) with an average carbon emission growth rate of 1.3%. 95% of pilot cities had a significant decrease in carbon emission intensity, 38% of pilot cities had a steady decrease in total carbon emissions, and 25% of pilot cities had a rapid decrease in total carbon emissions. The effectiveness of carbon dioxide emission control in pilot cities has been demonstrated.

The report shows that the low-carbon pilot construction work plans for 34 cities have been formulated and released, of which 22 are issued by the municipal (district, county) people's governments. Forty cities such as Jinan, Wuhan, and Yinchuan have broken down their carbon emission intensity reduction targets to counties (parks). Shenzhen will include the reduction of carbon emission intensity, the preparation of greenhouse gas inventories, carbon trading compliance, and the construction of near zero carbon pilot projects in the assessment of ecological civilization.

The report suggests that pilot cities should effectively integrate the concept of green and low-carbon development into the top-level design of urban development plans and strategies, ensure the implementation of various green and low-carbon development tasks, improve the institutional system for promoting green and low-carbon transformation, and accelerate the promotion and application of advanced green and low-carbon technologies. (End)