Telling the "Guangdong Story" of Climate Change

The 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) opened in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on November 30. Guangdong Province participated in the meeting as a provincial-level regional representative of China, and held a special side event on December 3 in the China Corner - "Guangdong Plan to Combat Climate Change".

As one of the first batch of national low-carbon pilot provinces, Guangdong's advantages, challenges, paths and achievements in responding to climate change and promoting green and high-quality development are representative and demonstrative. The event introduced a series of innovative measures and practical actions of Guangdong in responding to climate change and promoting low-carbon development since 2010, and vividly demonstrated the outstanding achievements of green and low-carbon development in China's provincial-level regions. The event was hosted by the Department of Ecology and Environment of Guangdong Province.

Sun Zhen, a first-level inspector of the Department of Climate Change of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, said in his speech that responding to climate change is an arduous and complex system project, and China has always attached equal importance to adaptation and mitigation, and has taken active adaptation to climate change as an important part of the implementation of the national strategy to actively respond to climate change. He said that Guangdong Province is one of the first low-carbon pilot provinces in China, and Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Zhongshan in Guangdong Province are national low-carbon pilot cities, and their response to climate change has been at the forefront of the country.

As the most economically developed province in China, Guangdong is also a major energy consumption and carbon emission province, and many attempts and achievements in the field of energy conservation and carbon reduction are worth learning from the international community.

In the keynote speech session, Jiang Hongqi, Deputy Director of the Department of Ecology and Environment of Guangdong Province, systematically reviewed the policies and practical achievements of Guangdong Province in response to climate change with the title of "Review of the Green and Low-carbon Development Process of Guangdong Province". He pointed out that Guangdong Province has handled the relationship between development and emission reduction, mainly thanks to the continuous promotion of industrial structure adjustment, energy structure optimization, transportation structure improvement, energy efficiency level improvement, and the implementation of a market-oriented carbon trading system to promote energy conservation and carbon reduction of enterprises. He stressed that as the forefront of reform and opening up, Guangdong will make greater efforts to support the completion of the goal of carbon peak and carbon neutrality as scheduled, continue to explore new systems, new mechanisms and new models to deal with climate change, and contribute to the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind.

Jiang Hongqi, deputy director of the Guangdong Provincial Department of Ecology and Environment, delivered a keynote speech.

Guangdong Province vigorously promotes the green and low-carbon transformation of enterprises, and Dong Mingzhu, chairman and president of Zhuhai Gree Electric Appliance Co., Ltd., introduced Gree's experience and practices in promoting continuous progress in green production, green manufacturing and green life through continuous technological innovation and industry collaboration.

The side event also organized a roundtable discussion among experts and scholars at home and abroad on the topic of joint efforts to address climate change. The guests made in-depth discussions and exchanges on the research results of Guangdong's carbon peak and carbon neutrality path and policy simulation, the importance of international cooperation on climate change and Sino-German cooperation cases, the progress of international cooperation in Guangdong's pilot carbon market, the deep emission reduction path and financial support transformation opportunities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the methane emission reduction path in Guangdong Province and the collaborative practice of pollution reduction and carbon reduction in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

The participating leaders and guests and the audience spoke highly of the sharing content, topic exchange and event organization of the Guangdong side event. Through this side event, Guangdong showed the world the progress and achievements in the field of climate change and green and low-carbon development, and conveyed the expectations and visions of working with the international community to address climate change, which received wide attention.