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This week C40 hosted a Climate Positive Development training session for the City of Beijing and the Shougang Project. The Shougang Project is the first project in China to be accepted into the Climate Positive Development Program, a performance-based recognition system of the world’s most ambitious district-scale low-carbon projects.
The training was held at the site of the regeneration area – the former Shougang steel mill – 19 km due west of Tiananmen Square, and was co-hosted by the Shougang Group, and supported by the Beijing Municipal Institute of City Planning and Design and the Peking University Centre of Planning and Design.
The training provided a great opportunity for a wide cross section of government and Shougang officials to come together to learn more about C40 and to discuss opportunities and potential strategies for accelerating the Shougang project toward its Climate Positive goals. Participating in the session were officials from the National Development and Reform Commission; Beijing Municipal Development and Reform Commission; Beijing Municipal Committee of Urban Planning and Land Resources; Beijing Municipal Committee of Housing and Urban-Rural Development; Shijingshan District Municipal Government; and the Foreign Affairs Office of the People’s Government of Beijing Municipality.
The Climate Positive Development Program is guided by the Climate Positive Framework (also available in Korean and Mandarin), and supports the development of projects that seek to meet a “climate positive” emissions target of net-negative operational greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with energy, waste and transportation. This “climate positive” outcome is achieved by maximizing efficiency on-site and offsetting emissions by reducing carbon in the neighboring community.
The program is currently working with 19 projects across six continents, and once completed will impact nearly one million people who live and work in Climate Positive communities. Through this set of real-world projects that serve as urban laboratories, the program aims to create replicable models for large-scale urban communities that reduce GHG emissions to the greatest possible extent, manifest the highest standards of sustainability and innovate climate resilient solutions. Working with both the public sector and the private sector, these projects are helping to establish critical collaborations between the two to create a case for holistic planning and development that improves the local environment, creates jobs, and enhances local quality of life.