Balance Environmental Protection and Economic Prosperity – Nanchang Looks to European Technology for Green Development

Nanchang has ambitious goals for its environment-friendly development. It intends to reduce CO2 emissions per unit of GDP by 38 percent as compared to the 2005 level by 2015, and 48 percent by the year 2020. “This goal is a little higher than the national target of 40 to 45 percent,” said Liu Hua, chief economist of Nanchang Development and Reform Commission and vice director of the city’s Office for Nanchang Low-Carbon Development. By 2015, the city’s production value of low-carbon industry is expected to account for over 50 percent of the total of its entire industrial sector.

Nanchang looks to foreign technologies, particularly those from Europe and the U.S., on its path to green economic development. In this respect, enhancing international cooperation during the period 2011 to 2015 is a key objective of the local government.

International cooperation is indeed in progress. The local government and the Britain-based Wellcome Trust coordinate low-carbon urban development plans, and the U.S.-based Energy Foundation helps with the city’s transition to new energy sources. Nanchang has established an avian research center in cooperation with the EU, and is in constant communication with Italy on energy-saving models. It also consults experts in Germany on the protection of local flora and fauna, especially that around Aixi Lake.

Nanchang’s closest and most comprehensive cooperation, however, is with Austria. The city government works with the Austrian Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology and most especially with the Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT). “We hope to gain inspiration through international cooperation, especially with regards to environment-friendly buildings. Cooperation with Austria plays a key role in this respect,” Liu Hua said.

Cooperation with Austria was launched in October 2010, shortly after Nanchang was appointed a low-carbon pilot city. The government of Nanchang signed a memorandum with the Austrian Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology on cooperation in public transport, innovation and technology during a joint forum co-organized by China and Austria on low-carbon urban development. During the ensuing five years, the two sides will co-invest about RMB 81.7 billion, equivalent to 10.5 billion euros, in Nanchang’s green development, especially solar energy, LED, tourism and low-carbon transport.

“Austria contributes ideas, design and technology,” former head of the AIT Energy Department Brigitte Bach said. Austria hopes in return to strengthen its position in China’s environmental protection technology market. As Austria has been exploring its own sustainable economic development since the 1980s, it appears as a promising cooperative partner.

As Liu Hua pointed out, however, not everything that is practical in the West is transferable to China. “In terms of development level, there is still a big gap between Nanchang and European or American cities. Many techniques have to be applied according to the local conditions, and cost remains an important factor. From our point of view, the application of some technologies is too expensive,” Liu Hua said.

The AIT has sent scientists and engineers to Nanchang over the past few years to formulate a low-carbon, energy-efficient development plan tailored to local conditions. Together with Chinese technicians, they have produced a plan for Nanchang’s low-carbon urban development. “We want to achieve a low-carbon lifestyle within the next five to 10 years. Major changes are expected to take place in buildings, energy utilization, industry, transport, infrastructure and ecological environment,” Liu Hua said in his summing up of the plan. “In future, the number of private cars will be reduced, and there will be several city centers, so dispersing the population and diffusing the city’s present congestion,” Brigitte Bach said. “We will put the plan into effect upon receiving government approval,” Liu Hua said.

The Austrian technologies and concepts will first be implemented on a trial basis in the one square kilometer Nanchang Low Carbon Industry Park, which Nanchang and Austria agreed to build in 2010. Any technology that proves workable in the industry park will be promoted throughout the city. Highly effective insulation techniques will be applied to the construction of walls and ceilings, and the buildings will run on renewable energy sources such as solar and biomass energy. Innovative models for natural cooling and ventilation of buildings will also be explored to avoid excessive use of heaters and air conditioners.

“The main goal of our environmental protection efforts is to provide Nanchang residents with the best environmental conditions possible and to enable them to experience low-carbon development first-hand,” Liu Hua said. Nanchang is striving to achieve balanced economic growth, environmental protection and higher living standards. The city now makes available for residents’ use a total of 6,000 bicycles at 80 stations across the city, and there are about 600 electric buses in service. “By the end of the year we plan to increase this number to 1,000,” Liu Hua said. “In future, we want to make it possible for residents to deal with 70 percent of their daily business on foot. This calls for the necessary infrastructure, and a subway is presently under construction. Our information campaigns also encourage residents to lead a low-carbon consumption lifestyle.”

Through international cooperation, Nanchang not only introduces technology, investment and projects but also improves its international reputation. “We want to build Nanchang into an international platform for low-carbon development,” director of the Publicity Department of the CPC Nanchang Committee Zeng Guanghui said. In 2009 Nanchang hosted the first World Low-carbon and Eco-economy Conference and Technical Exposition, where environmentalists from all over the world exchanged new ideas and concepts. It has since become a biennial event.

These efforts have paid off. Today’s Nanchang is a model for other cities in China, especially those emerging in the western regions. The city’s achievements are impressive. Since 2005 it has reduced CO2 emissions by six percent while its economy has grown at an average annual rate of 14 percent. “Our ultimate goal is to keep our environment in the best possible condition for future generations,” Zeng Guanghui said.