Beijing, May 3, 2012 - By embarking on a low-carbon growth path, China’s cities can help reach the country’s targets for reducing the energy and carbon intensity of its economy, and become more livable,
Beijing, May 3, 2012 - By embarking on a low-carbon growth path, China’s cities can help reach the country’s targets for reducing the energy and carbon intensity of its economy, and become more livable, efficient, competitive, and ultimately sustainable, says a new World Bank report released today. Cities contribute an estimated 70 percent of energy-related greenhouse gases. With China set to add an estimated 350 million residents to its cities over the next 20 years, the case for urgent action is strong.
The report, titled Sustainable Low-Carbon City Development in China, aims to provide central government policymakers and those of municipalities, cities and townships in China with practical lessons on sustainable low-carbon development, based on the World Bank’s experience and its long-term relationship with many Chinese provinces and cities.
"For China to achieve its 12th Five-Year Plan target to reduce 17 percent carbon intensity, addressing cities’ emissions is crucial,” said World Bank’s Country Director for China Klaus Rohland. “The report provides a framework for actions that Chinese cities could and are already taking to promote both economic development and low-carbon growth.”
According to the report, industry and power generation are major contributors to the carbon footprint of Chinese cities, producing in some cities an estimated 40 percent of city emissions each, with the remaining 20 percent contributed by transport, buildings, and waste.
To achieve low-carbon growth, the report suggests that cities will need to act on multiple fronts. Actions affecting land-use and spatial development are among the most critical because carbon emissions are closely connected to the urban form. Spatial development has also very strong “locked-in” effects: once cities grow and define their urban form it is almost impossible to retrofit them because the built environment is largely irreversible and very costly to modify. Furthermore, cities need energy-efficient buildings and industries; a transport system that offers alternatives to automobiles; and a shift to efficient management of water, wastewater, and solid waste. And cities need to incorporate responses to climate change in their planning, investment decisions, and emergency-preparedness plans.
The report lays out five key cross-cutting actions that form the overarching framework for low-carbon city development. Policy makers need to:
- Set the right indicators to encourage low-carbon growth;
- Complement administrative measures with market-based approaches and tools;
- Break the current link between land use, city financing and urban sprawl;
- Encourage mor