Press Release, Berlin/Suzhou

dena and CSUS certify nine German-Chinese eco-cities

Planning structures are established/work on pilot projects can begin

Certification of the Chinese city of Meishan on 26 July 2018 in Suzhou. From left to right: Andreas Kuhlmann (Chief Executive of dena), Johannes Regenbrecht (Ambassador at the German Embassy in Beijing), LIAO Xiaoning (Mayor of the District of Dongpo / Meishan) and Dr. Qiu Baoxing (former Chinese deputy construction minister). Picture: Deutsche Energie-Agentur (dena)

Nine cities in China have been awarded the title “Sino-German Eco-City” for their commitment to climate protection and energy efficiency. The Deutsche Energie-Agentur (dena) – the German Energy Agency – and the Chinese Society for Urban Studies (CSUS) presented the certificates at the annual Urban Development and Planning Conference hosted by the Chinese Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development on 26 July in Suzhou. The eco-cities of Qilin (Nanjing), Jizhou (Tianjin), Daqiuzhuang (Tianjin), Meishan, Rizhao, Xiangyang, Tongling, Chuzhou and Handan want to reduce their CO2 emissions by at least 30 per cent by 2030. To do so, they will also be working with German companies.

The award-winning cities have introduced an energy and climate protection management (ECM) system developed by dena in their municipal administrations in order to systematically and sustainably reduce energy consumption. Furthermore, they have taken steps such as formulating guiding principles and creating organisational structures. On this basis, the cities will now implement efficiency measures in construction, mobility, use of resources and ecological restoration.

Among its other plans, the city of Jizhou/Tianjin will build 60 prefabricated houses according to the German energy-plus standard. The city of Meishan will install a system for integrated wastewater treatment with energy recovery. In Quilin (Nanjing), a smart system will soon relieve traffic. Chuzhou is driving the construction of a district cooling and heating system. Furthermore, all nine municipal administrations will build all the buildings in selected neighbourhoods in accordance with the Chinese green building standard supplemented by the new “Green Building + Energy” high-efficiency standard.

Close cooperation for sustainable urban development and climate protection

“Sustainable urban development is a key climate protection issue,” said Andreas Kuhlmann, dena’s Chief Executive. “The EU and China have recently underlined this in their joint statement on climate protection and clean energy. With our project, we want to show how Chinese cities can tackle the challenge in close cooperation with German companies. The nine cities we certified today have already done important preliminary work. Now we are looking forward to the implementation of the planned projects.”

Baoxing Qiu, Chief Executive of CSUS: “We would like to congratulate the cities honoured today. The ‘Eco-Cities in China’ cooperative project plays an important role in the strategic cooperation between Germany and China and in the implementation of the German-Chinese Urbanisation Partnership. The advanced knowledge and experience in the field of low-carbon, ecological and sustainable urban development from Germany are helpful for the Chinese cities.”

In order to further consolidate the cooperation between Germany and China, dena is organising two forums within the framework of the “Sino-German Eco-Cities” project together with its partners, CSUS and the China Eco-City Academy (CECA) that will take place following the conference in Suzhou. In Zhangjiakou on Friday, 27 July 2018, representatives of the Chinese Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, experts and executives from China and Germany will exchange their experiences in the construction of eco-cities. On Saturday, 28 July 2018, the “Sino-German Eco-Cities” forum will move on to the Jizhou district in Tianjin.

About the dena project “Eco-Cities in China”

Since 2014, dena has been implementing the ‘Eco-Cities in China’ project jointly with CSUS, the think tank of the Chinese Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development (MoHURD). To date, a total of 21 cities have been chosen as Sino-German eco-cities. As well as reducing CO2 emissions, these eco-cities cooperative agreements are designed to build structures and experience for sustained urban management while further developing markets for energy-efficient products and services. The project partner is Wilo.