Shenzhen ranks second in green development among 169 cities in China, according to the 11th green book of climate change released by the Joint Laboratory for Climate Change Economics Simulation of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, China Meteorological Administration and the Social Sciences Academic Press.
The green book, titled “Annual Report on Actions to Address Climate Change (2019): Climate Risk Prevention,” evaluated the low-carbon development of 169 cities at or above the prefecture level in 2017 from multiple dimensions.
An index system built by the Institute of Urban and Environmental Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, comprising 15 indexes covering six dimensions, including macro indexes, industry low-carbon development, energy low-carbon development, green life, resource environment and policy innovation, was applied in the evaluation.
The results show that all cities scored between 60 and 94, and seven scored higher than 90. Compared with previous years, most cities saw improvements in their performance. Among them, Beijing, Shenzhen and Xiamen are the top three. Shenzhen scored 92.65, ranking second following Beijing which scored 93.50.
In terms of city categories, service-oriented cities perform the best. Among them, Beijing, Shenzhen, Xiamen, Nanning and Kunming top the ranking.
As for first-tier cities, Beijing and Shenzhen have been the top two every year. Both have seen increases in their overall scores from 2010 to 2017.
According to the green book, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen are all low-carbon pilot cities, and the governments of these cities perform better than other cities in terms of policymaking, investment, structural adjustment and innovation related to low-carbon development. Therefore, comparing the data of carbon emissions in such cities more reasonably reveals their actual low-carbon development.
The results show decreases in total emissions, emissions per unit of GDP and CO2 emission per capita for all four cities, as well as an annual decrease in the emissions per unit of GDP.
Among them, Shenzhen has had the lowest total carbon emissions.