China Capstone Workshop on Sustainable and Livable Cities Project

The just-concluded G20 Summit put climate change high on the agenda. For the first time in history, G20 made a special announcement on climate change. Meanwhile, China took the lead in ratifying the Paris Agreement, which sent the signal of low-carbon transition and set an example of addressing climate change and moving toward sustainable development. Today, sustainable development has become a common goal across the world. As urbanization accelerates in China, people's livelihood has been improved, but the country is also witnessing increasingly serious greenhouse gas emissions, environmental pollution, water stress and traffic congestion. The way that the Chinese cities pursue sustainable development will not only have a direct bearing on the well-being of Chinese citizens but also affect the development of the whole world.    

The World Resources Institute (WRI) launched the Sustainable and Livable Cities Project under the support of the Caterpillar Foundation in February 2012, and selected two Chinese cities--Chengdu and Qingdao--as pilot cities. Over the past five years, under the guidance and support of the Department of Climate Change of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and thanks to the joint efforts of various parties, we have been working hard in the two cities to explore the paths for cities to meet low-carbon development goals, and demonstrated how to develop effective and practical strategies to improve energy efficiency, cut GHG emissions and improve water quality, urban transport and land use.   

Guided by the Department of Climate Change of NDRC and hosted by WRI, this event will release over 20 outcomes in the areas of climate change, water resources, transport and energy, including research findings on low-carbon planning at national, provincial, city and community levels and policy recommendations on seven priority areas of urban low-carbon development. At the event, representatives from government agencies including NDRC, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the Ministry of Transport, research bodies, non-profit organizations and the media will discuss cross-sector cooperation paths for low-carbon urbanization and how to create synergy among the government, academia, businesses and the public to build low-carbon cities.

We kindly invite you to attend the event to explore and discuss challenges and opportunities in sustainable development of Chinese cities. Please find attached the agenda and traffic guide for the event. We look forward to your participation.

Agenda