Shanghai becoming a green city, and saving energies

Output of Shanghai's energy-saving and emission-reduction industry hit 183 billion yuan (US$28.6 billion) in 2020, helping build Shanghai as a green city.

The industry, covering reducing energy consumption and fossil fuels, building green factories and developing green finance, generated a revenue of 183.07 billion yuan, 2.71 percent up year on year, according to the Shanghai Commission of Economy and Informatization.

In 2020, total industrial energy consumption fell 1.16 percent – equal to 592,000 tons of standard coal.

By December, Shanghai had built 100 green factories with fewer emissions, established 20 green industry parks and developed 116 energy-efficient and environment-friendly products to support a citywide green ecosystem, the commission said.

A total of 55 projects received loans worth 620 million yuan in Shanghai last year, under a green finance project covering fields with a circular economy, energy saving, sewage treatment and solid waste treatment.

New energy firms are coming to Shanghai with huge demand and a mature capital market, including the Shanghai STAR Market, a Nasdaq-like board to boost innovation

More new energy firms, such as photovoltaic, new-energy vehicles and battery and material companies, are going to float on the capital markets.

They have "core technologies and innovations," said PatSnap, a patent data and analytics service provider.

Currently there are 12 new-energy firms listed in the STAR Market with 350 patent applications for each company on average, higher than 324 applications on average for all STAR-listed firms. Their average valid patent volume is much higher than other industries, said PatSnap.

Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd (CATL), China's leading automotive lithium-ion battery maker, signed an agreement with Shanghai government on Wednesday to develop new-energy cars and products.

Several city-level events will be held in the week since Monday with the theme for energy saving, emission reduction and green development, local government officials said.