China: Eco-cities

The rapid pace of urbanisation in China poses challenges for city planning and energy supply – with sometimes serious consequences for the environment. Climate protection and energy efficiency often used to take second place behind the goals of economic success. A paradigm shift took place with the realisation that these targets are in no way mutually exclusive, but instead must be harmonised with one another. China and Germany are working together on innovative solutions to achieve decisive progress in climate protection and boost energy efficiency. However, framework conditions that do justice to the interests of all parties involved need to be established.

dena played a crucial role in persuading the building ministries of both countries to form a partnership. Now there are 27 pilot cities taking part in the programme in China. They are being developed into energy-efficient eco-cities with dena’s energy and climate protection management programme. The key approach here is to consider the city as a whole, in which factors such as buildings, energy, transport, water and waste are considered together. The findings from these model, tried-and-tested cities can be transferred to other cities once they have been analysed. This enables technological collaboration between both countries, in order to acquire a solid foundation of trust. In the opposite direction, the experience gained flows back to Germany in the form of international expertise.

Publication: Future Cities and New Economy, Carbon Neutrality Driven by Green Innovations (EN/CN)