Greening our cities: Wuyishan's pioneering model for urban carbon reduction

As global warming speeds up, meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement has become crucial. Cities, especially in countries like China, play a major role in reducing carbon emissions. However, traditional approaches to making cities carbon neutral usually miss out on considering indirect emissions that happen outside city boundaries, which are vital for a comprehensive carbon reduction strategy. This study tackles this issue by introducing an integrated framework that accounts for both the emissions produced within and consumed by a city.

In a recent study featured in Volume 20 of the journal Environmental Science and Ecotechnology, researchers introduced an innovative framework for achieving carbon neutrality in urban areas. The study, which focuses on Wuyishan, a service-oriented city in Southern China, highlights the importance of inclusive strategies that consider both internal and external greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to effectively mitigate carbon.

This study presents a groundbreaking strategy for urban carbon neutrality, with Wuyishan, a service-oriented city in China, serving as a model. It introduces a thorough method for calculating and reducing GHG emissions and highlights the importance of often-overlooked out-of-boundary emissions, which make up 42% of Wuyishan's total emissions. The approach innovatively combines life cycle assessments with sector-specific analyses, covering all aspects of a city's emissions. In Wuyishan, mitigations include expanding solar power, transitioning to electric vehicles, and improving agricultural practices. The study emphasizes the need to tackle both internal and external sources of emissions to create effective carbon reduction strategies. This is especially crucial for cities in developing countries, which face unique challenges and opportunities in sustainable growth due to rapid urbanization and industrial changes. With plans to significantly boost renewable energy and electrification by 2035, Wuyishan demonstrates a strong commitment to a sustainable, low-carbon future. This research offers a valuable guide for cities worldwide to develop comprehensive and practical carbon neutrality plans.

Highlights
• We propose a framework to investigate the city-level carbon neutrality pathway.
• A full-scope GHG emission perspective is considered.
• Carbon reductions within and outside city's boundaries are equally important.
• We suggest including out-of-boundary emissions in GHG accounting.

The authors of the study highlight the significance of this integrated approach. "Our methodology provides a practical tool for cities, especially in developing countries, to develop effective carbon neutrality roadmaps that encompass the full spectrum of GHG emissions," they stated.

This framework provides a complete model for cities to develop and execute strategies for achieving carbon neutrality. It underscores the necessity of accounting for external emission sources and emphasizes the shift towards low-carbon technologies and sustainable practices across various sectors such as energy, transportation, agriculture, and waste management.

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References

DOI

10.1016/j.ese.2023.100354

Original Source URL

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ese.2023.100354

Funding information

The National Natural Science Foundation of China: An emission scenario - air quality model-based study on the evaluation of “Dual Attainments” of Chinese city (72074154); The Research on the optimization of synergistic regional pathways under carbon emission peak and carbon neutrality goals (72140004); The Research on pathway optimization and implementation mechanism of synergistic control of GHGs and pollution for key regions (72243008).

About Environmental Science and Ecotechnology

Environmental Science and Ecotechnology (ISSN 2666-4984) is an international, peer-reviewed, and open-access journal published by Elsevier. The journal publishes significant views and research across the full spectrum of ecology and environmental sciences, such as climate change, sustainability, biodiversity conservation, environment & health, green catalysis/processing for pollution control, and AI-driven environmental engineering. The latest impact factor of ESE is 12.6, according to the Journal Citation Report^TM 2022.