China has transformed green and low-carbon technologies, experts say

China has made breakthroughs in transforming advanced green and low-carbon technologies and applying them in crucial areas such as pollution prevention and control, ecological and environmental protection and restoration, and green industry development, experts said during a recent conference.

The conference, held by the Environmental Development Center of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, is also the third meeting of the council of the China Ecological & Environment Technology Transformation service platform.

Launched by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment in 2019, the service platform serves as a nexus for integrating resources from different stakeholders, pooling ecological and environmental protection technologies, and helping local governments and businesses address technical problems in the field of environmental protection.

Xu Cheng, secretary-general of the council of the service platform, said that the platform has expanded channels and methods for the transformation of ecological and environmental technologies.

For example, it serves as a system for the alignment of demands and supplies, facilitating the integration of demands and supplies at the central, provincial and local levels to foster technology and resource sharing.

"Nearly 100 cutting-edge technologies have been disseminated through collaborative efforts that entail demand exploration, technology exchange, supply-demand matching, and technology promotion," Xu said.

Moreover, the council members have collectively built a comprehensive technology transformation framework, which encompasses analyzing demands, pooling technologies, evaluating and selecting, matching supplies with demands, and incubating industries, he added.

Significant technological breakthroughs in critical areas have been made. For instance, to constrain water pollution and protect the aquatic ecosystem, the Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences under the Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed detection methods for Giardia lamblia and Cryptosporidium and collaborated with a company selling relevant equipment to develop an automatic identification system for the two parasites.

Such innovation, according to Xu, has significantly enhanced parasite detection capabilities, reducing costs by over 30 percent. It has been applied in nearly 100 municipal-level disease control centers, water monitoring stations, and research institutes nationwide.

"It is hoped that the environmental development center will bolster the overall coordination of resources on the platform, drive continuous innovation in the transformation of technologies, and upgrade technological service standards. The ultimate objective is to establish the platform as a pinnacle for the transformation of ecological and environmental technology achievements," said Ma Qiang, an ecology and environment official.

Qu Jiuhui and Peng Yongzhen, academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, as well as researcher Cao Hongbin from the Institute of Process Engineering under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, delivered keynote speeches on approaches to addressing environmental issues at the conference.

Xu Nuo contributed to this story.