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Chapter 5: Green cities

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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

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.

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Reference

  • [1]

    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

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