Shanghai well on the road to a greener future
Shanghai's ecological environment has been improving over the years and the city has been developing its green productivity and accelerating the cultivation of a green and low-carbon industry, a senior official of the city's ecology and environment bureau said on Wednesday.
The IE Expo China Environmental Technology Conference 2024, with the theme of "Innovative Transformation towards a Beautiful China," gathered government officials and industry insiders to brainstorm the new trend and high-quality development of the environmental protection industry and scientific breakthroughs, innovation and upgrade of the industry.
The IE Expo China Environmental Technology Conference 2024 opened on Wednesday.
The concentration of PM2.5 in the city dropped to 28 micrograms per cubic meter on average last year from 39 micrograms in 2017, and the emission of carbon dioxide and energy consumption had both been cut by over 50 percent, showing a greener picture of development, said Tang Jiafu, Party secretary of the Shanghai Bureau of Ecology and Environment.
The development of ecological and environmental protection industry has huge potential, and an industrial structure featuring high-tech, low resource consumption and less pollution is the base of the whole green transformation of the economy and society, said Tang.
Shanghai is developing a green and low-carbon innovation service base, and helping new technology platforms and innovation companies with advantages in green and low-carbon industries connect financing, policy and market resources, said Tang.
It is also accelerating the transformation of traditional industries such as steel and petrifaction, and promoting the implementation plan of green and "waste-free" steel plants.
An intelligent approach is being taken to lift the refined management level on flying dust of construction sites, piers and streets and tackle smoke of catering businesses and noise pollution that disturb residents, said Tang.
Cultivating new quality productive forces
Traditional environmental protection industry characterized by construction of pollution control infrastructure and operation service is being replaced by green, recycling and carbon neutrality industry, and experts suggested companies step up cultivation of green new quality productive forces.
China has about 30,000 ecological and environmental protection companies with about 3.4 million staffers, according to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China.
"New quality productive forces are green productive forces and China's economy is establishing and forming a new model with the core on green and low carbon development," said Li Yonghong, deputy director of the Center for Environmental Education and Communications, Ministry of Ecology and Environment.
Wang Jinnan, deputy director of the Committee on Population, Resources and Environment of the CPPCC National Committee, said a technology industry based on ecological service functions and carbon neutrality has become new driving power of the economy.
Green productive forces are playing an increasing important role in photovoltaic power generation, meteorological disaster warning and resource recycling efficiency fields with the application of new technologies such as AI, cloud computing and Internet of Things, he said.
"We should accelerate the improvement of green technology innovation system and financial policies to power the development of green productive forces," said Wang.
