SHENZHEN has been included into the country’s list of the first batch of 25 pilot cities and 10 high-tech industrial development parks that will aim to peak carbon dioxide emissions.

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China’s top economic planner, said in a statement on its website that the list, released Wednesday, was announced in accordance with the government’s action plan to peak carbon dioxide emissions by 2030. The list was formulated based on voluntary declarations by cities and parks in relevant regions as well as reviews by provincial governments and the NDRC, respectively.

Shenzhen and Guangzhou are the only two cities from Guangdong that made the list of 25. Zhaoqing High-tech Industrial Development Park in Guangdong’s Zhaoqing City has been selected to be one of the 10 pilot industrial parks.

The cities and industrial parks are asked to formulate implementation plans and submit the plans to the NDRC before Jan. 31, 2024, according to the announcement.

In recent years, Shenzhen has continuously pushed its urban carbon peak and carbon neutrality efforts forward, propelling its green and low-carbon development into a new phase. As one of China’s first low-carbon pilot cities, a pilot city for carbon emission rights trading, and an innovative demonstration zone for sustainable development agendas, Shenzhen has optimized its energy structure amid stable economic growth. Its energy consumption per unit of GDP has continuously decreased, and the city’s carbon emission intensity is only one-fifth of the national average, making it the city with the lowest energy consumption and carbon emission intensity among China’s major cities, according to a Shenzhen Economic Daily report Thursday.

Shenzhen was awarded the title of Biodiversity Charming City by the U.N. in 2022 and will host the world’s first international mangrove center. Its air quality remains leading among China’s major cities, with an annual average PM2.5 concentration of 16 micrograms per cubic meter. The total scale of green buildings in Shenzhen has exceeded 160 million square meters, making it one of the cities with the largest and densest scale of green building construction in China. Shenzhen boasts ownership of 860,000 new energy vehicles and ranked first in net-zero carbon development among 30 cities based on the China Net-zero Carbon City Development Report 2022.

China has committed to a “dual carbon” goal of reaching the peak of carbon emissions by 2030 and attaining carbon neutrality by 2060.    (SD-Xinhua)