Scientists encouraged to collaborate to save planet

Scientists from around the world were urged to collaborate across borders and disciplines to tackle climate change through technological innovation on Thursday, China's second National Ecology Day, as a green low-carbon conference opened in Huzhou, Zhejiang province.

The Green Low-Carbon Development Initiative, released at the 2024 Green Low-Carbon Innovation Conference, called on scientists to transcend borders and disciplinary boundaries in order to enhance openness, exchanges and cooperation. It also urged them to leverage high-level scientific research and technological innovation to save the planet and to build a more united, green and prosperous world.

Xue Lan, dean of Schwarzman College at Tsinghua University and an executive committee member of the World Federation of Scientific Workers, emphasized the importance of scientific collaboration.

"I believe that cooperation among scientists is easy because we share common aspirations and interests in understanding each other's research and learning from each other," he said. "However, this is not enough. We must also promote collaboration among academia, enterprises and governments."

Xue said it was like a triangle, with the three sides — academia, enterprises and government — needing to strengthen cooperation within and between countries to extend scientific collaboration into the fields of production and application, which was the only way to achieve shared emission reduction goals.

China's Top 10 Science and Technology Innovations in Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality from last year were unveiled at the conference. They included key technologies and applications for carbon dioxide capture and utilization, and the development of a carbon source and sink monitoring and verification support system.

"These achievements will further inspire scientists across the nation to contribute more wisdom to advancing the green low-carbon transition," Gao Xiang, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and president of the Zhejiang University of Technology, said at the conference's opening ceremony. "They will also promote the integration of research institutions and industries, connecting innovation chains with industrial and knowledge chains to foster the growth of green industries."

Wang Zhe, deputy director of the Institute for Carbon Neutrality at Tsinghua University and a professor in the university's Department of Energy and Power Engineering, said the government's support of the conference had greatly facilitated technological exchange, allowing scholars to gain broader insights that could help new concepts emerge.