Yangtze River Delta net zero emissions offer lessons to the world

The Yangtze River Delta in East China has made tremendous progress in efforts to achieve net zero carbon emissions and offers lessons that can be applied in other parts of the world, according to a new publication.

The efforts are outlined in a new guidebook, Net Zero Carbon Village Planning Guidelines for Yangtze River Delta Region, which was launched on the sidelines of the ongoing UN-Habitat Assembly in Nairobi, Kenya.

Vincent Kitio, the chief of the urban energy unit at the UN-Habitat and one of the guidebook's authors, said villages across the globe can emulate and modify the Yangtze River strategies to suit their local conditions.

Kitio said in their research, 10 principles were identified that are relevant not just for the Yangtze River Delta, but also to rapidly growing villages across the globe.

He said the principles are innovative in capturing strategies that maintain carbon sinks and limits greenhouse gas emissions, directly addressing sustainable development goals.

Jointly prepared by UN-Habitat's Urban Lab and Tongji University, Shanghai municipality and the Shanghai Academy of Environmental Sciences, the guidelines can set an example for zero carbon planning strategies that can be replicated in other relevant towns at the national and international level.

To create zero carbon villages in the Yangtze River Delta, the guidelines state that it's key to focus on the relationship between the physical aspects of new developments, climate and energy demands.

Additionally, the infrastructure necessary to ensure the closure of the energy, water, waste and food cycles, aiming for a high level of self-sufficiency, must be identified and integrated.

This creates a relationship between the physical structures and the form of the built environment and the vital fluxes feeding it, as well as metabolized from it.