Promote exchange of experience, best practice and expertise between national governments, cities, and provinces in China and Germany on current issues of integrated and sustainable urban development
Capacity development among municipal actors, urban planners, developers and other relevant stakeholders
Description
The Sino-German Urbanisation Partnership was initiated by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in 2013. Since its commission by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety of the Federal Republic of Germany (BMUB) in cooperation with the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of the People’s Republic of China (MoHURD) in June 2016 it is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. The project aims at promoting sustainable and integrated urban development in China and Germany.
The focus topics are: urban governance, planning, and renewal; adaptation, disaster prevention and urban resilience; energy efficiency and renewable energy; urban finance; and public participation; low carbon eco-cities construction; resource efficiency, urban water management, and waste recycling; urban transport; sustainable and social housing policy; smart cities; urban biodiversity; and many more.
The Partnership promotes the exchange of experience, best practice and expertise between cities and provinces of the two countries on current issues of integrated and sustainable urban development. The exchange will be fostered by working with city networks and promoting city partnerships between German and Chinese cities.
Through capacity development and training for German and Chinese officials, municipal actors, urban planners, developers and other relevant stakeholders, sustainable and integrated urban development will be strengthened in both countries
Field of intervention
Energy efficiency
Green building
Urban transport
Urban planning
Waste and water management
Housing
Industry and smart cities
Renewable energies
Governance
Adaptation and mitigation
Finance
Resource efficiency and recycling
Targeted beneficiaries
Governmental actors
Municipal actors
Urban planners
Relevant stakeholders in the field of urban development
Achievements
Implementation of the Sino-German Working Group on Urbanisation
Support Chinese delegation visits to Germany on the topic of standardisation in the building sector, adaptation and resilience in cities and housing markets
Participation of Sino-German Mayors Programme in 2016 and preparation of the programme in 2017
Workshop on the topic of sponge cities
Workshop on prefabricated building for sustainable urbanisation
Low carbon development of China’s transport sector
Exploiting potential energy savings to reduce CO2 emissions
Description
The project supports the Sino-German policy dialogue on climate change mitigation strategies in the transport sector with a focus on both urban and freight transport. The policy dialogue is further enhanced by the establishment of an international council of experts, which facilitates the exchange of experiences and intensive advisory support all the way to the director general and vice-ministerial level.
At the core of the project is the exploitation of potential energy savings. The partners are advised on the development of a set of emission quantification tools to model low carbon transport development scenarios on the national level as well as emissions generated by urban and freight transport. Measurements are being performed that provide an impetus for strategy development in addition to quantifying the success from implementing activities and strategies.
Piloting policies and measures related to transport efficiency and to standards for the use of technologies provides urban and private sector actors with information about mitigation options, and demonstrates their feasibility. These measures directly contribute to the development and implementation of robust climate change mitigation strategies.
Field of intervention
Climate change mitigation strategies, Transport efficiency, Scenario development, Emission models, Capacity development
Targeted beneficiaries
The population of P.R. China, Political decision makers on national and municipal level, Employees of Chinas Ministry of Transport MoT, Employees of the department of climate change of Chinas National Development and Reform Commission NDRC, Employees of Chinas Ministry of Industry and Information Technology MIIT
Achievements
Established Sino-German dialogue on sustainable transport; Policy development (Parking management guideline, Established public transport alliance Foshan); Enhanced technical capacities on transport, emission quantification and monitoring, Shenzhen – transport, energy consumption and emission monitoring platform is established
To strengthen the capacity of key stakeholders involved in ETS design and implementation at the national and local level
To provide policy options regarding the preparation and establishment of ETS to China’s key institutions and involved stakeholders
To enhance the dialogue between political decision-makers and the private sector and sets out to involve all stakeholders, especially local stock exchanges, financial service providers, as well as verification and trading companies and industry
Description
The Sino-German project is jointly implemented by GIZ and the National Development Reform Commission (NDRC) on behalf of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB). The project supports knowledge and experience exchange between Chinese, European and German experts and key stakeholders related to emissions trading. The introduction of this market-based approach in China is seen as a major contribution to the achievement of the government’s ambitious emissions reduction targets.
China has published new greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction commitments in preparation for the 2015 Paris climate negotiations. The country will reach its peak emissions level by 2030. It also intends to reduce its emissions per unit of GDP by 60 to 65 per cent during the same period. China had already committed itself to a 40 to 45 per cent reduction in emissions intensity by 2020. An emissions trading scheme (ETS) is being introduced on a gradual basis in order to achieve these targets.
This makes China the first emerging economy to launch a trading scheme to limit GHG emissions. A pilot phase for this complex market instrument has been running since 2013 in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Chongqing and Shenzhen, as well as in Guangdong and Hubei Provinces. The project provides advice and training to further support the nationwide roll out of the ETS, which is scheduled for 2017.
Field of intervention
The project provides technical advice and supports the strengthening of capacities for the development, establishment and implementation of ETS in China. The exchange of experiences and know-how between Chinese, German and European institutions is supported through advisory sequences and training measures such as study tours, workshops and job shadowing.
On the local level, the project addresses the pilot regions and assists local institutions in charge of ETS implementation in testing of and making adjustments to the ETS after its establishment. Companies covered by emissions trading as well as further participants in the trading (such as financial service providers, verifiers) are also included.
On a national level, the Domestic Policy and Compliance Division of the Department of Climate Change of NDRC is supported. In addition, demand-driven support in assessment and evaluation of the experiences made within the pilot schemes is provided, especially regarding legislative-institutional questions.
Targeted beneficiaries
In preparation of the national ETS roll-out, representatives of Chinese non-pilot provincial authorities have participated in continued trainings on emissions trading. As the pilot regions have begun to successfully trade emission certificates and gain initial experiences, the project is stepping up its efforts to assist the Chinese Government in its preparation and establishment of the national ETS. These efforts concentrate on establishing the necessary legislative framework and national institutions.
Looking forward, the project shall support in the set-up and optimisation of local trading platforms and prepare local government, verifiers and enterprises for their roles and ways to best participate in the national ETS. Knowledge exchange between European industry representatives and national experts will play a key role in the project.
Achievements
The project is currently focusing on the pilot regions, but is also supporting national level ETS development. Among others, the project provided technical advice on the design of carbon registries and the establishment of trading platforms in the regions. Study tours to Germany and Europe, as well as experts visits to China, helped to establish an expert exchange and deepen the knowledge of institutions and procedures in the European ETS. In order to involve all relevant stakeholders, including the private sector, the project also provides trainings for companies subject to ETS in the form of an intensive dialogue between European and Chinese industry representatives focused on sharing knowledge and experiences to prepare Chinese companies for the challenges of emissions trading.
The project strives to support Chinese stakeholders to draw on the lessons learnt in Europe and to establish a carbon market which suits China’s circumstances.
