Chongqing - Bridging News and iChongqing released the latest episode of Land-Sea Roundtable. Guests talk about how the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle, a major national strategy for regional development, is to become the “fourth pole” of China’s economy, following the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
In order to promote the development of green industries in the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle, Sichuan and Chongqing have launched a joint action to achieve carbon peak and neutrality goals in the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle.
In 2025, a new green, low-carbon, and circular development model will take shape in the Chengdu-Chongqing region.
With a slower growth rate of carbon dioxide emissions, there will be a further increase in the proportion of non-fossil energy consumption and a sustained reduction in energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions per unit of gross regional domestic product.
The experts actively discuss how to meet the new opportunities in China’s green economic circle. (Photo/Sophie Wei)
Using technology to balance CO2 emissions on Earth
Harold Mao, an adjunct Professor at the University of British Columbia (UBC), the Chief Scientist and Director of the Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) Innovation Center has been working on CCUS technology for many years.
Dr. Mao stated that coal-fired power plants play a vital role in China’s energy supply system, accounting for about 60% to 70%. Chongqing and Sichuan have nearly 100 coal-fired power plants, each producing more than 2 million tons of carbon dioxide.
“That’s the reason why we creat the CCUS Technology Innovation Center,” said Dr. Mao. “Our technology converts captured CO2 into carbon-negative industrial chemicals that can be used in industry and generate profits.”
This is a sustainable carbon capture system. The ultimate goal for Dr. Mao’s team is to use this leading technology to balance CO2 emissions on Earth.
Gavin Tjong, the managing director of Cushman & Wakefield in west China, a world-renowned real estate consulting and service company, said that he had seen the application of this new construction technology of prefabricated modular building in China.
Tjong added the interior and exterior wall panels, fixtures, and accessories of buildings built by prefabricated modular building technology are produced and processed by the factory, configured in building units, and finally transported to the construction site for assembly, which can reduce construction time by 50% to 70% and construction costs by 50% to 80%.
“Also, green financial tools have gradually been important to support China’s green and sustainable development. Chongqing issued 40.65 billion yuan (about USD 5.88 billion) in green bonds in 2021, with an increase of 53.7%,” said Tjong.
For example, Chongqing Rail Transit successfully issued its first carbon neutrality bond, the first carbon neutrality bond for clean transportation in China, with an issuance scale of one billion yuan (about USD 144.76 million).
First Chinese company certified by Boeing, Airbus, Safran
Zhang Ning, the general manager of the Import and Export Division of Southwest Aluminum (Group) Co., Ltd., has been engaged in foreign trade for more than 30 years. He is familiar with aluminum processing products and their overseas markets.
Southwest Aluminum has been developing an import and export business for nearly 30 years. In terms of aerospace, Southwest Aluminum is the first company in China that has been certified by qualified suppliers such as Boeing, Airbus, Safran, Antonov company, and Elal Israel Airlines.
“The construction of the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle has also boosted the rapid development of new energy vehicles and other industries,” said Mr. Zhang.
Southwest Aluminum has cooperated with more than ten vehicle plants, such as the SAIC General Motors Co., Ltd, Nio Inc., Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., Ltd, and other internationally renowned new energy vehicles companies, achieving an annual supply of more than 25,400 tons of covering parts.
(Liu Meihui and Liu Yujing, as interns, also contributed to this report.)