Tell us how you used this resourceSuggest a green growth resource

Browse by:

Sector

Country

Region

Theme

Organisation

Type

You are here

Home > Databases > Library > Whole-System Zero-Emissions Demonstration: China’s Vision on Future Green Urbanization

Whole-System Zero-Emissions Demonstration: China’s Vision on Future Green Urbanization

December 2020
As cities in China go through economic transformation, they also face the challenges of carbon emissions, waste management, and pollution control. Many global cities face similar challenges. The global urban population is predicted to increase by 2.5 billion by 2050, and the main driver for the new round of urbanization is the global division of labor and industrial transfer. As a result, carbon emissions of emerging economies are often export-driven while waste and pollution remain a domestic issue. All three issues seriously affect the daily life of everyday people.
 
This report introduces a new concept — Whole-System Zero-Emissions Demonstration (WS-ZED). The WS-ZED concept goes one step further than net-zero carbon and proposes a broader concept to reveal the added value of synergy among net-zero carbon, net-zero waste, and net-zero pollution. This new concept aims to resolve these growth challenges by adopting a holistic approach to put in place urban management policies to combat both climate change and environmental degradation.
 
In the report, RMI proposes:
  • A WS-ZED theoretical framework to elaborate the correlation between production/living and emissions/waste/pollution, establishing the internal logic for cross-sector efforts of mitigation, reuse, recycle, and treatment.
  • A WS-ZED dual-indicator system to support planning decisions and emissions benchmarking, covering social/economic factors, planning and design decisions, production and living conditions, and resources/supplies.
  • A WS-ZED technology landscape to support implementation of early intervention technologies, reshaping urban infrastructure to scale up clean energy, low-carbon industry, green mobility, efficient buildings, and other integrated city governance technologies.

 

Download
Countries: 
China
Regions: 
Asia
Sectors: 
Buildings, Energy, Transport, Waste
Themes: 
Technology and Innovation, Cities, Infrastructure, Climate Change
Key search terms: 
zero-emissions, urbanisation

Related Research

January 2013

Renewables: Global Futures Report

Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century (REN21), Institute for Sustainable Energy Policies (ISEP)

The future of renewable energy is fundamentally a choice, not a foregone conclusion given technology and economic trends, according to this report.

December 2020

Using Climate and Energy Scenarios to Inform Strategy and Policy

This report introduces the role of climate and energy-economic scenarios in informing climate-aligned policy and strategy.
June 2012

Urban Patterns for a Green Economy: Optimizing Infrastructure

United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat)

 

December 2017

International Trade Governance and Sustainable Transport: The Expansion of Electric Vehicles

International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD)
The paper International Trade Governance and Sustainable Transport: The Expansion of Electric Vehicles has been conceived as an exploratory scoping exercise intended to identify and better understand trade-related issues and knowledge gaps, including how various types of trade measures and policies affect the electric vehicle industry and its value chains.