In China, urban sustainability is a top policy. China’s urban population is increasing rapidly, and it is estimated that by 2023, the cities here will need to accommodate another 300 million people. This population is equal to the entire population of the U.S. Although urbanization in China offers enormous market opportunities, it also creates challenges for housing, utility, urban energy, transportation, and other amenities. It is a necessity for China’s leaders to strike a balance between resource consumption and urban growth. In this article, you will learn about the Green Vision Blue Sky: China’s Path to Cleaner Cities.
What is China’s Path to Cleaner Cities?
China is taking a lot of crucial steps to fulfill Green Vision Blue Sky: China’s Path to Cleaner Cities. It has taken initiatives like-
1. Investment in Alternative Public Transportation
In China, automobile ownership is rapidly increasing but its cities are putting great effort into boosting alternative urban transportation modes like high-speed railways, public bicycles, buses, and subways. Using such transportation modes cuts off congestion and emissions in cities.
2. Replacing Gasoline Vehicles with Natural Gas Vehicles
Apart from focussing on alternative urban transportation modes, China is also enforcing policies to make automobiles greener and cleaner. Many municipalities have now started to require buses and taxi fleets to shift from petroleum to natural gas. Compared to gasoline, natural gas fuel produces fewer harmful emissions. Natural gas engines emit 72 percent fewer hydrocarbons and 97 percent less carbon dioxide.
3. Energy-efficient Green Buildings
China’s Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development jointly released a statement on May 6, 2012, to reach a goal of increasing “energy-efficient green buildings†to 30 percent of the country’s new construction projects by 2020. Today these green buildings have become a key part of the future of the Chinese economy. In 2020, close to 1 billion square meters of land in china was rated as green. With this, you have learned about China’s path to cleaner cities.
Also Read: Germany Will Use 80 to 100 Percent Renewable Energy by 2050 – Energy Theory
What are Challenges to Green Vision Blue Sky Path of China?
There are a lot of challenges posing a threat to green vision blue sky Chinas path to cleaner cities. Let’s learn about a few of them-
- The main aim of the Chinese government is still economic growth rather than sustainability. Many clean energy policies and programs will increase the industrial cost. Moreover, it will be impossible to execute these policies without the local government’s strong monitoring and enforcement.
- To achieve the desired result of these policies, universal efforts from industry players and government authorities are needed. Without an overall blueprint or vision, unilateral commitments can become useless. After this, let’s learn about Blue Sky Fabrication in China.
What is Blue Sky Fabrication in China?
After learning about the challenges to green vision blue sky chinas path to cleaner cities, let’s learn about Blue Sky fabrication in China. This fabrication can be seen as an ad hoc top-down campaign style of governance. China has an immense air pollution problem and blue sky fabrication is a temporary way of dealing with it. When China is hosting international-mega events, like the G20 summit in 2016, the host cities and the surrounding regional governments have often implemented a detailed plan to control air pollution. This is done to ensure that the participants are greeted with blue skies. For these plans to function, often construction work is suspended, traffic is restricted, industrial production is halted, the residents are relocated, etc. These plans are only formulated and implemented for a defined period only.
