Low-carbon conference highlights innovation, cooperation

JINAN, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- At the Jinxiang expressway service area in east China's Shandong Province, visitors are surprised to find wireless phone charging services located under awnings, with photovoltaic panels lining the rooftops.

The prevalence of such panels is one of the great changes brought by China's booming new energy sector.

Over recent years, the country has driven its green transition to act on its promises to peak carbon emissions and achieve carbon neutrality, making itself an important participant in, contributor to and leader of the construction of a global ecological civilization.

From Monday to Wednesday, the 2023 Green Low-Carbon High-Quality Development Conference was held in the city of Yantai, Shandong. During the event, multiple remarkable achievements in the fields of energy conservation, carbon emissions reduction and innovation were showcased, displaying China's wisdom in fueling the eco-friendly global development trend.

According to data released by the National Development and Reform Commission, China has supported its average annual GDP growth of 6.6 percent with an average annual energy consumption growth of just 3 percent over the past decade.

During the period, China's energy consumption per unit of GDP and its carbon dioxide emissions have decreased by 26.2 percent and 34.4 percent, respectively. Its wind power, photovoltaic power and hydropower installed capacities have all ranked first in the world, marking a historic advance in green, low-carbon and high-quality development, the commission said.

Technological innovation is behind these achievements.

Attendees at the three-day event agreed that the world is united in giving full play to technology to slash carbon emissions and enhance the eco-friendly transition of our global society. They also acknowledged the major breakthroughs made in the fields of new energy vehicles, mining, batteries and shared electric bicycles.

In 2022, China's State Council issued a guideline to promote the green and low-carbon development of Shandong, aiming to support the province in exploring new development models by upgrading traditional growth drivers and nurturing new ones.

Shandong has vowed to build itself into a pilot zone for green, low-carbon and high-quality development by 2027.

At Shengli Oilfield in Shandong's Dongying City, Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS) technologies have been applied to increase the local oil output and permanently trap carbon dioxide underground, realizing the full containment of liquefied carbon dioxide and zero emissions.

As an important technical means to control greenhouse gas emissions in response to global climate change, CCUS has been put into commercial operation in China.

Shengli Oilfield has built 20 standardized injection stations with an annual carbon dioxide storage capacity of 1 million tonnes, the effect of which is equivalent to planting 9 million trees each year or eliminating the annual carbon emissions of 600,000 sedan cars, said Wu Jihui with Shengli Oilfield.

China is also actively promoting international green cooperation, in addition to its own innovation efforts.

Recently, Zhongtong Bus Holding Co., Ltd. in Shandong's Liaocheng City dispatched an initial batch of 500 buses powered by natural gas to its client in Kyrgyzstan. The buses are scheduled to arrive in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, before Sept. 30.

Last year, Bishkek purchased 120 of the Zhongtong buses. This year, the city placed another order for 1,000 Zhongtong buses to gradually replace all its fuel-powered buses. The 1,000-vehicle order is the largest passenger bus order that has been received in China from countries along the Belt and Road so far this year.

"While noting the commendable effort in establishing a pilot zone dedicated to green, low-carbon and high-quality development in Shandong Province, I would like to convey that Sri Lanka wishes to explore potential avenues that could institutionalize meaningful and practical cooperation with China in reaching out to resources available for greening the economy and projects that foster low carbon emissions," said Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana, speaker of the Parliament of Sri Lanka, during the event's opening ceremony.