On April 25, 2024, the “Shanghai Climate Week 2024 Climate Resilient Communities and Community Climate Action Forum” was successfully held at the Shanghai Overseas Chinese Scholars Association. The forum featured thematic presentations, roundtable discussions, and visits to ecological gardens, organized by the Shanghai Overseas Chinese Scholars Association English-Speaking Countries Branch and Shanghai Green Light-Year, with co-hosting support from the Shanghai Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction Center Co., Ltd., the Cambridge University Shanghai Alumni Association, Shanghai Climate Week, and UTC Experts. Nearly a thousand participants joined both online and offline.
The Climate Resilient Communities and Community Climate Action Forum invited over ten experts and frontline workers with significant contributions in the fields of zero-carbon construction and low-carbon community development to share theoretical guidance and practical experiences required for climate resilient community construction.
Mr. Gu Weiwei presented a series of strategies to enhance community climate resilience. He first emphasized the importance of establishing an emergency warning system to enhance residents’ awareness and self-protection capabilities, ensuring rapid and effective responses to extreme weather events. He further pointed out that guiding communities to develop renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power is crucial for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and achieving energy transition. Additionally, Mr. Gu encouraged residents to use public transportation more to reduce the environmental impact of private cars. Regarding community greening and ecological protection, Mr. Gu suggested improving residents’ living environment by increasing green spaces and ecological parks, not only to improve air quality but also to enhance the city’s ecological functions. Furthermore, Mr. Gu emphasized the importance of community governance, believing that through active participation of residents, better allocation and utilization of community resources can be achieved to collectively build a green and sustainable living environment. Finally, Mr. Gu highlighted the achievements of English-speaking alumni engaged in low-carbon communities and energy transition.
Part 1: Thematic Presentations
At the Shanghai Climate Week forum, Mr. Zou Rong delivered an inspiring speech. He first reviewed the development history of Shanghai Climate Week, highly praising the successful organization of this event and considering such activities as a manifestation not only of China’s determination in formulating strategic planning standards but also of innovation-driven and self-transcending efforts. Mr. Zou emphasized that in the face of global climate change challenges, we must continuously innovate and surpass ourselves to actively catch up with the future. He proposed that through such forum activities, the wisdom of all parties could be gathered to jointly explore effective ways to address climate change, which is of great significance for promoting green development. In conclusion, Mr. Zou expressed his best wishes and blessings for this forum, hoping that through everyone’s joint efforts, contributions could be made to climate action in Shanghai and even globally, collectively building a greener and more sustainable future.
Edward Mazzarella emphasized the global issue of climate warming and the agreements reached by various countries at the 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, aiming to keep global warming within 1.5°C. He mentioned that the built environment is a major source of global carbon dioxide emissions, accounting for over 50% of total emissions. He elaborated on 10 principles for reducing carbon emissions in the built environment, including promoting electrification, utilizing renewable energy, and optimizing building design and material use. Mazzarella called for a reduction of at least 50% in carbon dioxide emissions from the built environment by 2030 and striving for zero emissions by 2040.
Professor Alan Short, Dean of Clare Hall College and Professor of Architecture at the University of Cambridge, introduced his research team’s work on low-carbon buildings and medical ventilation systems. He mentioned the team’s particular focus on controlling airborne infections in operating rooms, typically achieved through improved ventilation systems, filtration systems, and sterilization equipment. Professor Short specifically mentioned a historical case, the experiment by Professor Charnley at the University of Birmingham Medical School, whose designed cold air ventilation failed to control infection, highlighting the inadequacies of existing methods. Professor Short also demonstrated the use of water modeling to study fluid dynamics, helping them better understand and design more effective ventilation solutions. Finally, he proposed the design of a new ventilation device that effectively disrupts temperature layers, preventing the spread of pathogens in operating rooms.
Mr. Cai Zhengqian first introduced the basic situation of his company ATKINSREAILS and the operation of the mechanical and electrical construction team. Through two specific cases, he showcased the company’s sustainable development practices: the Ruijong New City project in Hongkou District, Shanghai, a high-density urban renewal project featuring the largest skylights and sunshades in Asia; and the Linear City project Future City in Saudi Arabia, a city without roads, cars, or emissions, entirely reliant on clean energy. In addition, Mr. Cai elaborated on the company’s sustainable business achievements in China and global business distribution. When answering the question of how to integrate sustainable development with personal and corporate development, Mr. Cai proposed 10 future development directions, including combining artificial intelligence with sustainability, assessing intervention measures through machine learning, and establishing clear roadmaps for carbon emissions, costs, and delivery plans. He emphasized the importance of establishing platforms and benchmarks, aiming to optimize these plans through delivery tracking in the future.
Ms. Guo Yan detailed the six-star zero-carbon demonstration community, the Beddington Eco-Village, located in London, the United Kingdom. The community adopts a full life-cycle zero-carbon engineering approach and is specifically located on a landfill site, demonstrating the potential for sustainable construction. Community features include efficient maintenance and heating systems, natural ventilation systems, renewable energy utilization, and a comprehensive maintenance system. Ms. Guo emphasized the community’s innovation in recycling and resource management, such as using wet waste for farm composting and other recyclable materials for regional power supply. In terms of transportation and community design, the community adopts a pedestrian-vehicle separation model, creating a safe and child-friendly environment, effectively isolating noise and air pollution. Additionally, the community is equipped with charging stations and offers car rental services to encourage low-carbon travel. Ms. Guo also mentioned that through the construction of facilities like connecting bridges, the community enhances neighborhood interaction and community cohesion.
Ms. Guo Yan shared the latest zero-carbon projects, including the application of building-integrated photovoltaic technology, which not only improves power generation efficiency but also optimizes the aesthetics and functionality of buildings. She also mentioned projects such as the zero-carbon factory in Hasting and the community renovation project in Dubai, demonstrating the company’s efforts to promote zero-carbon solutions globally.
Ms. Yin Kelian introduced the Clover Hall Institution, a key laboratory for urban renewal and spatial optimization technology in collaboration with Tongji University. The institution is dedicated to developing community gardens that residents can participate in building, focusing on four areas: technology, standards, practice, and networks. Ms. Yin elaborated on how community gardens address climate change issues on three levels:
- Increasing public awareness and understanding: Community gardens enable residents to perceive macroclimate issues such as humidity, drought, and temperature changes through their intuitive settings, directly affecting plant growth and allowing residents to understand and perceive the actual impacts of climate change from their own living environment.
- Promoting natural space growth: Compared to highly industrialized urban spaces and high-energy-consuming, high-carbon emission building methods, community gardens use low-energy, low-carbon construction methods, encouraging the use of renewable materials and resident co-construction models. This approach not only protects the environment but also increases residents’ sense of happiness and community belonging through their active participation.
- Driving public participation and increasing influence: By showcasing specific cases such as garden composting and a national map of community gardens, Ms. Yin emphasized the importance of the community garden action network. These networks, organized by neighborhoods, establish community gardens, promote active resident participation and organization, and form a sustainable and organic environmental action model.
Ms. Wang Qian started with the “Earth Hour” event, emphasizing that climate action is not just symbolic “lights-out” but requires tangible actions for the Earth. She illustrated how to understand and build resilient communities through two practical cases in Shanghai: low-carbon initiatives and wetland ecosystems.
Regarding wetland ecosystems, Ms. Wang introduced an innovative project, the Shanghai Wetland Ecosystem Creative Map. This project invited middle and primary school students in Shanghai to participate, with engineers providing professional support, ultimately resulting in publishable academic papers. This practice not only enhanced students’ environmental awareness but also increased community awareness and participation in wetland protection. Concerning low-carbon initiatives, Ms. Wang shared her personal experience as a resident in ecological construction. Together with other residents, they utilized the natural space of the community’s pond to create interpretive signs to educate and guide community residents. However, due to complaints from residents, this action was not successful, reflecting significant challenges and conflicts faced by communities in environmental action.
Ms. Tian Yuan detailed the China International Solar Decathlon, a competition led by universities in collaboration with enterprises, where in the third competition, the Green Low-Carbon Park was designed and built for the specific ecological conditions of Desheng Village, Zhangbei County, Zhangjiakou. Ms. Tian emphasized the newly built Smart Exhibition Center in Desheng Village, which uses green photovoltaic products and effectively connects indoor and outdoor environments through smart interconnection technology. Additionally, she discussed the practical application of climate adaptive design, such as passive solar room design and ventilation and insulation measures in summer and winter. She pointed out that these innovative designs not only enhance housing comfort and community climate resilience but also contribute to exploring industrial diversification, such as grassland family inns and plant factory planting houses, providing new perspectives and solutions for sustainable development and post-disaster emergency response.
Ms. Sibora from the World Benchmarking Alliance City Transformation Benchmark introduced how her team evaluates global companies’ performance in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) aspects to support sustainable urban development and address climate change. She emphasized the potential of companies in promoting urban sustainability, safety, inclusivity, and resilience, while also proposing an assessment plan involving 300 global companies with significant influence in urban transformation. Her speech not only showcased key indicators of urban benchmark methods but also discussed how to translate global agendas into local actions, raise companies’ awareness of their operational impact, and promote adaptation and mitigation measures for climate change.
Ms. Jin Ying shared her rich experience in creating climate-resilient communities in Shanghai. Since 2017, Shanghai has initiated the construction of low-carbon communities and has successfully declared 55 low-carbon communities to date. Ms. Jin detailed how communities can establish resilience to climate change at the grassroots level by strengthening infrastructure and implementing nature-based solutions. This includes the use of green energy such as photovoltaic power generation equipment and solar water heaters, as well as green building measures such as rainwater collection systems and the application of heat-insulating solar films. She also emphasized the promotion of low-carbon transportation, the enhancement of resilience facilities through the construction of sponge cities, and the efficient utilization of resources such as on-site treatment of kitchen waste. Additionally, Ms. Jin shared specific cases of low-carbon communities in Huangpu District and Changning District, highlighting the importance of climate education and multi-stakeholder participation.
Dr. Jiang Nanqing delved into different levels of carbon accounting and their integrated management methods. She started from the concept of “zero-carbon factories,” gradually expanding to “zero-carbon supply chains,” and particularly focused on the carbon footprint of “products,” ultimately exploring the carbon emission management of “community campuses.” Dr. Jiang pointed out the complexity of carbon emission accounting and management in industries such as automotive and construction due to their long product lifecycles involving multiple stages such as production and consumption. Moreover, community activities involve human behavioral factors, further complicating accounting. Dr. Jiang proposed three types of emission reduction accounting on the consumption side: absolute emissions, avoided emissions, and sequestered emissions. She emphasized considering behavior from the business side to the consumer side and planned to improve data collection accuracy through digital technology. Regarding campus carbon emission classification, Dr. Jiang suggested categorizing emissions into entities, products, and activities, highlighting the importance of accounting methods and establishing verification flowcharts. She also delved into specific formulas for carbon emission calculation and methods for carbon emission reduction, emphasizing the crucial role of questionnaire surveys in data collection. Finally, Dr. Jiang introduced the steps of carbon-inclusive transactions, an innovative mechanism to incentivize companies and individuals to participate in emission reduction. Through Dr. Jiang’s presentation, it was understood that every aspect, whether it’s factories or communities, is a crucial part of achieving zero carbon goals, providing a new perspective on carbon accounting and management.
Mr. Mao Qin proposed a new approach to community construction centered on “low-carbon + resilience.” He emphasized that through top-level design to the formulation and implementation of specific plans, community transformation toward low-carbon and resilience can be comprehensively promoted. Mr. Mao first introduced the importance of basic research, estimating the average annual carbon reduction of the Beixinjing Life Circle Elderly Facility, providing a scientific basis for community carbon reduction. He pointed out that basic research is a prerequisite for formulating effective strategies. In terms of community surveys, Mr. Mao proposed an evaluation index system covering multiple dimensions such as low-carbon transportation, health resilience, behavioral patterns, and objective management. This index system aims to comprehensively assess the level of low-carbon and resilience in communities, providing guidance for subsequent plan formulation. In the sharing of specific cases, Mr. Mao detailed projects such as electric vehicle shared charging stations, photovoltaic construction, habitat gardens, and the Green Low-Carbon Resilience Community Vitality Map. These cases demonstrate how the concepts of low-carbon and resilience can be integrated into community construction and management, providing practical experience for the audience to draw from.
Part 2: Roundtable Forum
How can frontline workers promote the construction of climate-resilient communities?
Theme 1:
Community Building Experience from Shanghai Green Housewives
-Lingyun Community, Xuhui District, Shanghai
Ms. Chen Xinyin, Director of the Lingyun Community Foundation in Xuhui District, Shanghai, and Secretary of the Party General Branch of Meilong San Village, proposed an innovative set of community sustainable development strategies. She emphasized the importance of multi-stakeholder collaboration and shared her experience in public welfare project bidding and venture capital through the community foundation. Secretary Chen believes that mobilizing and organizing more residents to participate is the first step in achieving sustainable community development. Resident participation not only enhances community cohesion but also ensures that projects are implemented closer to the actual needs of residents. She further proposed that achieving win-win outcomes is the key to promoting community development. The joint participation of brand parties, resource parties, and technology parties can provide necessary support and resources for community projects, while also enhancing the brand value and social influence of all parties. Regarding multi-stakeholder collaboration, Secretary Chen introduced how the community foundation acts as a hub to connect public welfare charities, universities, enterprises, and other communities. Through this collaboration, more resources and strength can be integrated, maximizing the effectiveness of sustainable development. Secretary Chen’s speech not only provides new ideas for community sustainable development but also demonstrates the potential of community foundations in promoting public welfare projects and fostering social win-win situations.
Theme 2:
Interactive Experience in Creating Green Campuses through School-Family-Society Collaboration
-Longhutang Experimental Primary School, Xinbei District, Changzhou City
Ms. Fu Rong, Director of the Curriculum Teaching Center at Longhutang Experimental Primary School in Xinbei District, Changzhou City, shared the school’s educational philosophy, emphasizing the importance of greenery in poetic life, and showcasing the school’s specific practices in sustainable development. Ms. Fu mentioned that the school pays high attention to sustainable development and integrates green concepts into campus culture and students’ daily learning lives through a series of innovative initiatives. The school has established a campus recycling station to encourage students to participate in resource recycling and reuse, fostering environmental awareness. In addition, the school has opened up half an acre of flower fields for students to participate in planting and caring for plants, experiencing the beauty of nature firsthand. The green activity display wall is used to showcase students’ environmental creativity and green actions, inspiring student participation. Activities such as flea book markets and class theme galleries not only promote resource recycling but also enhance students’ social practice capabilities. Ms. Fu also emphasized the importance of school-family collaboration. Through participation in public welfare competitions, the school has established close ties with families and communities, working together to create green campuses. This collaboration not only enhances the quality of education in schools but also provides students with broader learning and growth space.
Theme 3:
Residents of the “Guardians of the Flower Field” Project, Winners of Four International Awards, Share Their Experience of Achieving Self-Empowerment and Long-Term Waste Classification
-Meisong Community, Suzhou Industrial Park
Ms. Cheng Yu, the director of the Meisong Community Flower Field project and a representative of residents, provided an in-depth introduction to the establishment and remarkable achievements of the “Guardians of the Flower Field” project. She first shared the basic situation of the Flower Field project, including its contribution to community sustainable development and international recognition. Ms. Cheng particularly emphasized the process of learning composting, which not only increases community residents’ awareness of environmental protection but also promotes the recycling of waste, reflecting the efforts of the Flower Field project in practicing sustainable lifestyles.
She mentioned that the builders of the Flower Field project have become disseminators and beneficiaries of sustainable development concepts through participation in the project. The transmission of this concept is not limited to one generation but ensures long-term inheritance of the concept through intergenerational education on sustainable development, ensuring the long-term inheritance of the concept.
Additionally, Ms. Cheng introduced how the community led the creation of a full-chain management system. This system includes the responsibilities of the garden director and the Flower Field claiming punch card system, aiming to ensure the continuous operation and effective management of the Flower Field project.
Theme 4:
Haibo Garden Co-Construction Project
-Zhonghai Community, Jiangxi Street, Xinwu District, Wuxi City
Secretary Qian Chunyuan of Zhonghai Community, Jiangxi Street, Xinwu District, Wuxi City, shared the origin and importance of the Haibo Garden Co-Construction Project. He pointed out that the occurrence of cyanobacteria events not only aroused widespread social concern for ecological environmental protection but also prompted unprecedented attention from the government to the construction of zero-carbon communities.
Secretary Qian mentioned that the success of the Haibo Garden project is attributable to the government’s foresight in ecological environmental protection and the emergence of a group of enthusiastic residents during the epidemic period. These residents not only actively participated in community construction but also became the backbone of community development. He emphasized that resident participation is the key to the success of community co-construction projects. Through mobilizing and organizing residents, the Haibo Garden project has gathered strength from all sides to jointly solve the problems faced by the community and achieve sustainable development. Secretary Qian’s speech not only reviewed the development process of the Haibo Garden project but also demonstrated the important role of resident participation in community construction. His experience and insights provide valuable references for other communities, inspiring more communities to explore the sustainable development path of co-construction and co-governance.
Part 3: Visiting
Habitat Garden in Changning District
Finally, all attendees visited the climate-resilient community, the Habitat Garden in Xinjing Town, Changning District, and conducted on-site visits to the low-carbon communities in Shanghai.