What should the first batch of pilot cities in the country try to achieve carbon peak? Hangzhou, Huzhou, Yancheng and Bozhou have their own characteristics

Recently, the list of the first batch of carbon peak pilots was announced, and there are a total of 35 carbon peak pilots in the first batch of cities and parks. In the Yangtze River Delta region, Hangzhou, Huzhou, Yancheng and Bozhou were selected as pilot cities, and Suzhou Industrial Park, Nanjing Jiangning Economic and Technological Development Zone and Hefei High-tech Industrial Development Zone became pilot parks. Next, the cities and parks that have entered the pilot list will scientifically compile the pilot implementation plan based on their own actual conditions, clarify the key tasks, reform measures, major projects and work schedules, and provide operable, replicable and generalizable experience and practices for the whole country.

Adapting measures to local conditions is an important feature of this pilot.

The "National Carbon Peak Pilot Construction Plan" proposes to fully consider the location characteristics, functional positioning, resource endowment and development foundation of different pilots, determine the goals and tasks of pilot construction according to local conditions, and explore diversified green and low-carbon transformation paths. Looking at the list of the first batch of carbon peak pilots, almost all of the selected parks are high-tech parks that are at the forefront of carbon emissions, but they cover a wide range of city types, including coastal cities such as Qingdao and Yantai, cities with separate plans such as Shenzhen and Dalian, provincial capitals such as Changsha and Guangzhou, as well as industrial cities and tourist cities, reflecting the different representativeness of pilot cities.

Specific to the Yangtze River Delta, several pilot cities have their own characteristics. For example, Huzhou and Yancheng have a clear background of low-carbon development. Huzhou is the birthplace of the two-mountain theory, which has been implementing the "dual carbon" strategy very early, and has vigorously promoted the comprehensive reform of low-carbon innovation in recent years, and has achieved good results, and is currently actively exploring and innovating mechanisms such as "project carbon assessment + transition finance" and "carbon accounting + carbon budget". Yancheng is known for its "green energy", with a large scale and high proportion of new energy power generation such as wind power and photovoltaic, and is a pilot project for the regional agglomeration and development of the national offshore wind power industry and one of the first new energy demonstration cities in the country.

Hangzhou's advantage lies in its early start, relevant technology accumulation, and relatively complete system and mechanism. As early as 2010, Hangzhou was selected as one of the first low-carbon pilot cities in China, and a normalized greenhouse gas inventory compilation mechanism was established. In March last year, Hangzhou issued a special implementation opinion on carbon peak and carbon neutrality, put forward an urban governance system that matches the vision of the "double carbon" goal, and implement development plans for green industries, green energy, green transportation, and green buildings. In June this year, Hangzhou also issued the "Hangzhou Three-Year Action Plan for Carbon Peak (2023-2025)", formulating a roadmap for carbon peak and carbon neutrality, and at the same time taking the lead in the country to carry out a pilot project for collaborative innovation in pollution reduction and carbon reduction and carbon emission monitoring in a modern international metropolis, which has been quite effective. At present, the energy consumption per unit of GDP in Hangzhou has dropped to 0.25 tons of standard coal per 10,000 yuan, ranking first in the province and leading in the country.

In comparison, Bozhou may be somewhat unremarkable. However, in recent years, Bozhou has been quite concerned about low-carbon transformation, accelerated the adjustment of energy structure, based on resource advantages, and tried every possible way to develop clean energy industries such as photovoltaic, wind power, and geothermal, and achieved positive results in clean energy carbon reduction and green manufacturing transformation. Last year, Bozhou's industrial energy consumption fell by 0.7%, and the energy consumption per 10,000 yuan of industrial added value decreased by 10.24%, driving the city's energy consumption per unit of GDP to drop by 2.1 percentage points. In the first three quarters of this year, Bozhou's comprehensive energy consumption and energy consumption per unit of industrial added value ranked first in Anhui Province.

Wu Jiang, former executive vice president of Tongji University and dean of the Yangtze River Delta Institute of Sustainable Development, told reporters that there is no clear path to carbon peaking, and what pilot cities and parks want to "try" is actually different development paths and models. "Carbon peaking is not the same as carbon neutrality. In principle, carbon peaking is very simple, as long as all high-emission production activities are stopped, carbon peaking will be achieved. Wu Jiang said that the biggest difficulty in the carbon peak pilot is to balance the relationship between economic development and carbon peaking, and avoid excessive impact on economic development. For example, Bozhou's economic development level and urban resource endowment are not outstanding in the Yangtze River Delta, but if it can achieve economic growth on the basis of pilot carbon peaking, it is equivalent to exploring a new path of high-quality development. This kind of experience, in terms of the whole country, may be more operable to replicate and promote.

Wu Jiang believes that the pilot list may also be a kind of pressure for local governments, prompting them to formulate a more scientific action plan for carbon peaking, and clarify specific timetables, roadmaps and key tasks. Before the carbon peak pilot, China had a long-term low-carbon city pilot. Previously, some scholars have done research on the effect of low-carbon city pilot policies, and found that low-carbon city pilot policies have significantly reduced urban carbon emissions, and at the same time promoted the development of urban low-carbon industries and helped the transformation of urban industrial structure. It is worth mentioning that through heterogeneity analysis, the scholar found that the difference in the effect of low-carbon city pilot policies on urban carbon emissions is related to the location of cities, city types, and government governance levels, that is, in the eastern region, non-resource-based cities and high-government governance cities, the inhibition effect of low-carbon city pilot policies on urban carbon emissions is more significant.

In Wu Jiang's view, there are still some difficulties in achieving carbon peaking. In terms of technology, there are still two major bottlenecks that need to be broken through, one is energy storage technology, and the other is carbon capture technology, which can truly convert carbon emissions into usable resources. In terms of mechanism, there is still a lack of a systematic mechanism that can aggregate various new technologies and new measures for overall consideration. There are also experts who suggest that pilot cities and parks should continue to make efforts in many aspects. For example, pilot cities can promote the construction of more solar power stations, encourage residents to use solar power systems, and increase supervision of energy-intensive enterprises to encourage them to adopt energy-saving and emission reduction measures, so as to achieve the goal of carbon peaking.