This report is produced in partnership with the Australia China Business Council under its landmark Green Channel initiative. Green Channel highlights the opportunities for Australian businesses arising from increased collaboration with China on outcomes addressing the climate challenge.
More than half of the world’s population lives in urban areas, a number projected to rise to 70% by 2050. The greening of our buildings and cities is critical in the pursuit of a net zero economy.
Urban centres generate around three-quarters of CO2 emissions of global final energy use. The 100 highest emitting urban areas contribute around 18% to the total global carbon footprint.
Consistent with these global trends, China and Australia have growing urban populations and a need to significantly reduce emissions to meet net zero targets. Modern major cities and economic development zones present opportunities for increased sustainability measures and outcomes, and new green city solutions.
Green cities exist on a continuum, ranging from purpose-built eco-cities to existing larger cities that are taking substantial steps towards ecological sustainability and intergenerational equity.
There is more to green cities than rooftops featuring plant life and beehives. Structure is important. Research indicates that co-located medium-to-high density housing and commerce, a high mix of land use and connectivity of streets are correlated with lowered greenhouse gas emissions. Urban infrastructure is similarly important, identified by the IPCC[1] as one of four systems requiring fundamental and transformative change to limit global warming.
There is also more to it than the everyday functioning of our cities. The way significant events like Olympic Games are held brings an opportunity to introduce a step change in a city’s infrastructure and venues – and to set an example for those to follow.
When we say ‘Green City’…
We mean a city in which design is informed by the social, environmental and economic impacts of human activity. Green cities feature urban planning and city management strategies to minimise environmental and carbon footprints, including:
- readily accessible public transportation
- renewable power sources
- sustainable infrastructure
- water and waste management strategies that maximise efficiencies in use (including recycling and reuse of material in the spirit of a circular economy)
- abundant green spaces
M. Pathak, R. Slade, P.R. Shukla, J. Skea, R. Pichs-Madruga, D. Ürge-Vorsatz,2022: Technical Summary. In: Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change.
Contribution of Working Group III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [P.R. Shukla, J. Skea, R. Slade, A. Al Khourdajie, R.
van Diemen, D. McCollum, M. Pathak, S. Some, P. Vyas, R. Fradera, M. Belkacemi, A. Hasija, G. Lisboa, S. Luz, J. Malley, (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge,
UK and New York, NY, USA. doi: 10.1017/9781009157926.002
Building to Net zero in Shanghai
“The project represents a new way of building, of embedding technology and symbiosis in everyday thinking, and of celebrating life in this new and challenging century. The cultural depth in developing new ways of thinking and working with China brings fresh and innovative perspectives that deepen understanding and success in China, and around the world.”
Dylan Brady, Decibel dB(A) Lead Architect SCGZero+ Project
The globally significant SCGZero+ project commissioned by Shanghai Construction Group is China's highest-rated sustainable building. SCGZero+ is a showcase for collaboration with China on the climate challenge, and its first 'five zero' building: zero carbon, water, energy, waste and formaldehyde.
Decibel brought key learnings from its innovations in sustainable design from the Pixel building in Melbourne and aims to redefine the benchmark for sustainable buildings in China.
Lead architect Dylan Brady emphasises the importance of building and maintaining relationships as the foundation for their success in China – including government links, networks and collaborations that trade missions have helped to foster.
Due for completion in 2022, the SCGZero+ project officially broke ground on 6 January 2021 and is located in the Putuo District of Shanghai. The total project site area is 3422 sqm, with a construction area of 11509 sqm (4548 sqm below ground and 6313 sqm above ground). Green concepts and technologies were applied in every aspect of the building’s design & construction; these will apply to the operation and maintenance once built, minimising energy consumption and pollution.
Prefabricated construction methodologies and modular green building systems reduces site noise, exhaust and wastewater. All waste was classified to enable upcycling, reuse, recycling or reclamation.
Decibel will translate the management of the whole process into educational and demonstrational technical case studies for improving the systematic procedures in green construction for the future.
New cities bring green opportunities
China’s Five-Year Plans include initiatives capturing the transformation and creation of its cities. This brings opportunities for Australian businesses and organisations to offer technical expertise and resources.
One clear path is to draw upon existing relationships between cities, states and provinces. These ‘sister-city’ relationships, of which there are around 100, include Adelaide-Qingdao, Canberra- Beijing, Melbourne-Tianjin, Perth-Chengdu and Sydney-Guangzhou.
Many have existed for decades. They have shown measurable direct economic benefits, as well as providing cultural and people-to-people links. From this, it is a small step to sharing ideas around the design and implementation of net zero policies and projects.
Within many Chinese cities, industrial parks have encouraged foreign direct investment. A growing number are focused entirely on green development, with the Singapore–Tianjin Eco-city among the earliest examples. In 2016 the Ministry of Commerce established the Green Partnership of Industrial Parks (GPIP), bringing together national-level industrial parks for green development. GPIP aims to facilitate international cooperation to achieve climate goals. Australia is yet to appear on collaboration party lists, but ACBC recently partnered with GPIP to showcase potential opportunities.
Chinese city, Singapore influence
Construction of Tianjin Eco-city, a sustainable, planned city 150km from Beijing, began in 2008. The city is a collaboration between the Chinese and Singaporean governments. It was deliberately built on non-arable, polluted land to demonstrate sustainable urbanisation is possible in the face of stark environmental challenges. At a private level, a Singaporean Consortium and a Chinese Consortium each hold a 50% stake in the joint venture company developing the city.
Drawing on Singapore’s township planning, Tianjin Eco-city has adopted an ‘eco-cell concept’ where public social amenities are co-located with residential estates and commercial buildings in 400 metre by 400 metre blocks. In addition, the ‘green and blue network planning’ used in the city endeavours to weave vegetated spaces and clean waterbodies throughout the eco-cells to enhance air quality, access to green spaces and the aesthetics of the neighbourhoods. Transport networks are also designed to favour pedestrians, non-motorised transport and public transport.
The city’s water management systems are adapted from Singapore’s systems. Urban wastewater such as sewage, industrial wastewater and rainwater undergoes purification and filtration to become usable recycled water for urban greening and daily use. The city was also approved as China’s second sponge city pilot, meaning that green land, permeable road materials and water storage modules are used to improve conservation of water.
The Chinese and Singaporean governments have put in place policies to incentivise green investment in the city. For example:
- it is a pilot for a voluntary foreign exchange settlement initiative facilitating business for foreign-funded enterprises registered in the city
- the city was named a ‘National Green Development Demonstration Zone’, meaning that low-carbon policies provide financial support to green industries
- Enterprise Singapore, a Singaporean statutory board, offers a range of incentives including grants and tax incentives, to assist Singaporean companies set up operations.
Greening existing cities
New green cities represent the future of sustainable urban design, but they do not reflect the reality of the conditions experienced by most of the world’s population residing in existing cities. Although the difficulties in ‘greening’ existing or new cities have strong parallels, distinct challenges face well-established cities which seek to retrofit elements of green cities into their fabric.
There is significant room for collaboration in relation to the next Chinese or Australian green city project.
The UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development nominated the creation of inclusive and sustainable cities as one of its development goals. The UN agenda focuses on the need for an integrated and cooperative response to urban growth and the environmental challenges presented, including using planning to create positive economic, social and environmental links between urban and regional areas.
Australia’s first privately built city
Greater Springfield, located south-west of Brisbane, is the world’s tenth largest master-planned community. Construction began in 1992 as a collaboration between the Queensland government and Springfield City Group.
Costing a projected AUD85 billion, the city features a host of innovative and sustainable technologies, including digitised substations, hydrogen-fuelled buses and a data centre which can withstand natural disasters. More than 30% of the city is designated as green space and there is a 3.5km2 man-made public swimming lagoon.
In 2010, Greater Springfield was named the world’s best master-planned city by the International Real Estate Federation. Greater Springfield has a 24ha green spine at its centre to connect residential and commercial districts with waterside and recreation areas.
This modern paradigm of mixed-use zoning and green centres represents a significant shift from the traditional design of cities centred around a central business district and urban sprawl.
In December 2018, Greater Springfield partnered with multinational energy conglomerate Engie (which has also partnered with Singapore, Paris and Barcelona on similar green city initiatives) to create a 50-year strategic alliance to invest in renewable energy generation and storage infrastructure. The strategic alliance action plan includes a targeted reduction from 1.98 to 0.8 cars per household while ramping up EV charging infrastructure, hydrogen-fuelled green buses, bioclimatic building design and 100% renewable energy usage (including PV solar panels on every available rooftop).
Looking ahead and seizing opportunities: Beijing, China and Sydney, Australia
In 2019, excavations took place on George Street in Sydney’s central business district to build new light rail infrastructure. Cognisant that Sydney’s water demand is predicted to increase 30% by 2030, the City of Sydney Council took advantage of the roadworks to install a recycled water network along the street. This involved knowledge and resource sharing across local government areas and collaboration with the state government and its statutory corporation, Sydney Water. The recycled water network can be used for tower cooling and park maintenance, which currently accounts for 40% of the city’s water consumption. The city aims to reduce its daily water usage per person from 223L to 170L by 2030.
Beijing has similarly demonstrated the value of investing in a sustainable future through its heavy governmental involvement in the promotion of EVs. China has become the world’s leading market in EVs with large subsidies for EV manufacturers, state sponsorship of research and development, direct investment into companies and public charging infrastructure. In 2018, Beijing saw an increase of 17,000 EVs, with a reported 130,000 charging points, 37,000 of them public. The figures dwarf those of large cities in other countries, including New York City which had fewer than 1,500 charger plugs and 120 fast charger plugs in 2020 (although the city plans to dramatically increase these figures to 40,000 and 6,000 respectively by 2030).
The contribution of transport electrification is further discussed in chapter 4, but the theme is clear: Beijing is investing heavily in decarbonising urban road transport. In a city like Beijing, the extent to which electrification of transport will clean the nearby airways depends on the extent to which the generation of the electricity is clean.
Greening Brisbane’s Olympics
In 2032 Brisbane will host the world’s first “climate positive Olympics”. The city is contractually obliged to be climate positive - as will all host cities from 2030.
Brisbane’s Olympic Games represents an opportunity for Australia and China to collaborate in the application of learnings from Beijing’s 2022 Winter Games, where all venues were powered by renewable energy for the first time at an Olympics. Hosting the Olympics poses significant emissions challenges; from the amount of travel and transportation of equipment involved, to the construction of billions of dollars of infrastructure.
Transport infrastructure constructed for the Beijing Games cost USD6 billion; double the amount spent on the games itself. The permanent nature of the infrastructure and increased transport linkages associated with hosting an Olympics extends the potential for embedding sustainability beyond the event.
One area with distinct potential for collaboration is the use of renewable energy to power Olympic venues and cities. Beijing constructed the world’s first flexible HVDC power grid in Zhangjiakou, facilitating the transmission of renewable energy. That project led to the investment of over USD8.5 billion in wind and solar power generation and can deliver 14 billion kilowatt-hours of clean electricity every year, sufficient to meet the power needs of 26 Beijing Olympic venues.
Australia is yet to implement flexible DC power grids at significant scale. The Brisbane Games present an opportunity to spur the broader construction and integration of DC power grids within extant power transmission systems. The Brisbane Games plans to implement a “solar rim” in the Metricon Stadium, a ring of solar panels around the roof which can supply 20% of the stadium’s electricity needs.
At the other end of the carbon lifecycle, in preparation for the Beijing Games, Beijing and neighbouring Zhangjiakou planted 80,333 hectares of forest, generating approximately 1,100,000 tonnes of CO2 bio sequestration.
Similarly, the Queensland government plans to plant trees in Brisbane and encourage non-motorised transportation by building broader sidewalks.
There is also potential for the Brisbane Games to undertake bio sequestration or other eligible carbon offset projects by participating in the Queensland Government’s Land Restoration Fund or the Emissions Reduction Fund facilitated under Australia’s carbon credits regime.
Sponge Cities are designed to do precisely as the name suggests: absorb water. Initially introduced to address the floods devastating modern cityscapes, benefits flow to water supply, biodiversity and greener urban spaces.
Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen are among 30 cities allocated between RMB400-600 million as part of a pilot initiative to transform them into more permeable spaces. By 2030, China wants at least 80% of municipal areas to have sponge city elements. This drove China to scour the world for best practice in sponge city techniques, which in turn led to Australia, facilitating significant cooperation between Australia and China. In Australia, innovation in the space is referred to as water sensitive urban design. Water businesses have accessed the sponge city market by providing unique products into the program from across Australia.
Monash University and the University of New South Wales entered an agreement in 2017 with Chinese development company Jiangsu Easthigh Environmental Holdings to help advance urban water technologies. This established a Sino-Australian Centre on Sponge City.
The South Australian Department of Water and Environment has engaged with Chinese cities since the initiative began in 2015, connecting the state’s vastly experienced water sector with China’s fast-moving cities. South Australia’s water industry alliance brings together around 150 local water companies with a goal of accessing national and international markets. The alliance, working with the department, acts as a conduit to industry for opportunities in China.
The first collaboration project involved advice from six South Australian companies to Jinan, the 7 million-population capital city of the Shandong Province, on capturing stormwater and replenishing the city’s natural springs. This work prompted Hohai University in Nanjing to reach out on a program to improve water management and quality in the Taihu Basin, an industrial-heavy pocket which has more than a third of the nation’s textile manufacturers.
South Australia is now seeing interest in its methodologies from other parts of the world, including India, Malaysia, Indonesia and New Zealand, as identified at the Dubai Water Expo in 2021.
What next?
Urban spread has removed permeable surfaces, reduced biodiversity and dropped water levels in aquifers. Climate change has heightened the frequency and intensity of floods and water pollution. More than 20 provinces across China, including Henan, and areas along the east coast of Australia, including Brisbane and Sydney, experienced severe flooding in 2021 and 2022.
In 2018, NASA revealed novel satellite observations showing freshwater availability changing everywhere on earth, making wetlands wetter and dry areas drier. A recent UN report also indicated about 80% of climate change adaption responses will be water-related by 2050. Efforts worldwide to address water outcomes for cities including water security, scarcity, urban amenity and combatting extreme weather events is predicted to become a USD1 trillion market by 2024.
For Australia, there are clear opportunities to export knowledge, whether from water sensitive urban design or from master-planned communities such as Greater Springfield in Queensland. There are also opportunities to use homegrown research and learnings from experiences abroad to accelerate green building and infrastructure planning, embrace electrification and decarbonise public transport.
The challenges in addressing climate change reach beyond cutting carbon. Changing our cities carries health and safety benefits, from reducing air and water pollution to mitigating the effects of natural disasters.
It presents an opportunity to materially affect the lives of the majority of the world’s people.
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