Danish, Chinese cities collaborate on climate issues
December 29th, 2011 - 3:58 am ICT by IANSCopenhagen, Dec 29 (IANS) Denmark’s Soenderborg city and China’s Baoding city have joined forces to find green energy solutions, officials of the two sides said.
The municipal authorities of Soenderborg and Baoding Wednesday signed an arrangement here to carry forward the intiative, dubbed Friendship City relationship.
Before this, Soenderborg and Baoding had already shared common goals in becoming low carbon urban centers, while acting as hubs for green technology businesses.
“Soenderborg being a major city in southern Denmark and Baoding being a major city in northern China and gateway to Beijing and Tianjin, the new Friendship City relationship will be a strong base for our joint communities creating new climate solutions and cultural cooperation in years to come,” said Aase Nyegaard, mayor of Soenderborg, in a joint statement announcing the partnership, Xinhua reported.
The Baoding city of 11 million inhabitants is located 140 km south of Beijing. It is well-known for its “China Electrical Valley”, a cluster of photovoltaic and renewable energy industries.
It is also recognized as a Chinese city that has taken the lead in developing green technologies and businesses, while investing heavily in low carbon development strategies.
Soenderborg is home to a number of famous Danish enterprises focused on low energy and energy-efficient technologies.
Under a roadmap known as Project Zero, the city wants to become carbon neutral, that is, reduce to zero the net carbon dioxide emissions of each of its 77,000 inhabitants by 2029.
The city has already developed extensive urban heating and electric power networks based on renewable sources, and is investing in low-energy housing and industrial complexes.
“We’re much impressed with the Zero Carbon Masterplan in Soenderborg and what Soenderborg has achieved on its Zero Carbon development,” said Ma Yufeng, executive vice-mayor of Baoding.
“This is valuable experience for our city to learn from. Baoding has the same intention as Soenderborg to grow low carbon. We can achieve much greater goals and start more extensive cooperation with a formal Friendship City relationship,” he added.
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Tags: baoding city, carbon development, carbon dioxide emissions, chinese cities, climate issues, climate solutions, cultural cooperation, efficient technologies, electric power networks, friendship city, green technology, industrial complexes, intiative, municipal authorities, new friendship, northern china, renewable energy industries, southern denmark, urban heating, vice mayor