Beijing, China—The Paulson Institute, in cooperation with the China Center for International Economic Exchanges (CCIEE), today awarded the 2014 Prize for Cities of the Future to the Shenzhen International Low-Carbon City project. Paulson Institute Chairman Henry M. Paulson, Jr., CCIEE Chairman Zeng Peiyan, and Prize Jury Committee Chairman Richard M. Daley presented the award to Shenzhen Mayor Xu Qin at an award ceremony held at the Park Hyatt in Beijing.
The Prize for Cities of the Future is awarded annually to a municipal-level sustainability project in China that offers a creative, effective and scalable solution to promoting sustainable development. The competition is designed to promote these efforts to a wider audience and recognize the achievements of outstanding Chinese municipalities selected by a jury of experts both from the United States and China.
Paulson Institute Chairman Henry M. Paulson, Jr., marked the occasion, saying, “We are pleased to recognize such a worthy project. This prize provides an incentive for developing innovative, sustainable, and scalable solutions and promotes collaboration between China and the United States. It is about encouraging leaders – economic, political, and otherwise, to push for practical solutions to real challenges.”
CCIEE Chairman Zeng Peiyan added, “This prize captures the spirit of what both CCIEE and the Paulson Institute want for the future of China, the US, and the world – economic growth that improves, not sacrifices, quality of life.”
Former Mayor of Chicago and Jury Committee Chairman Daley explained the jury’s selection, saying, “Shenzhen’s project reflects a comprehensive and forward-thinking approach to the design, planning and implementation of a large low-carbon city. Even more impressive is the fact that the project began with such an in-depth baseline diagnosis of the economic and environmental status of the city so that progress can be tracked.”
The project is creating a low-carbon urban area that fosters urban renewal in the city of Shenzhen, in southern Guangdong province. Unlike a traditional low-carbon city that places industrial development after urban construction, this project focuses on industrial transformation and development during the planning process and features a unique, low-carbon city metric that takes into account production, ecology and livability of the area.
The project, in Shenzhen’s Pingdi district, with 1.4 million residents, takes a holistic view toward development, incorporating water resources, transportation, energy, environmental protection, and garbage disposal to improve the regional air quality and environment quality.
The Shenzhen International Low-Carbon City project exceeded the prize’s dual requirements of demonstrating a creative solution for a critical urban challenge and showing demonstrable progress by defining and attaining lower carbon industrial transformation based on clear metrics. The jury committee pointed out the importance of the Shenzhen project as a model that can be replicated. “The project offers unique and valuable lessons to other cities in China, and even to cities in the developed world that are considering a movement towards low-carbon,” said Mr. Daley.
Beating out submissions from across the country, the Shenzhen International Low-Carbon City project was chosen by a jury of experts on urbanization and sustainability, including Mr. Daley; Carolina Barco, Senior Advisor, Inter-American Development Bank; Chen Huai, Dean of the Department of Urban & Rural Construction Economy of the China Academy of Social Sciences Graduate School; Hal Harvey, CEO, Energy Innovation; Huang Nubo, Chairman, Beijing Zhongkun Investment Group; Zhou Wenlian, Executive General Manager and Director, China Construction Engineering Design Group and Zhuang Weimin, Dean of the School of Architecture at Tsinghua University.
About China Center for International Economic Exchanges: Founded by Zeng Peiyan, former Vice Premier of the State Council, China Center for International Economic Exchanges (CCIEE) is a comprehensive association with the mission of promoting international economic research and exchanges and providing consulting service. CCIEE attracts experienced economic researchers and has close connection with economic research resources in various fields. It operates under the guidance and supervision of the National Development and Reform Commission in terms of its business scope and is registered in the Ministry of Civil Affairs. The main scope of business and services of the CCIEE is to study economic issues, to conduct economic exchanges domestically and internationally, to promote economic cooperation domestically and internationally, and to provide consulting services.
For more about CCIEE, visit: www.cciee.org.cn.