Green China Is on the Way
As a person who grew up and lived almost my whole life in China, I am amazed by how much it has grown. With the rapid development of economy, the emergence of talents and elites, the innovation of science and technology, and the improvement of national living standard, China has been playing a significant role in the global community in every aspect. As the world’s largest manufacturing, China also makes a big environmental impact. During the past decade, a lot more people started paying attention to climate change and advocating for climate action, especially in countries that play global leadership roles. As the biggest carbon emission contributor in the world, China has been certainly involved and taking responsibility in this movement.
President Xi Jinping has announced the goal that China is going to reach peak emission before 2030 and achieve carbon neutral in 2060. Many environmental related policies and regulations have been released and executed by the government and companies during the past decade that has raised people’s awareness of climate change and green actions. In this article, I want to talk about some green initiatives people in China have been doing toward sustainability development.
For people who have been to China would know that almost all major cities have developed public transportation system which includes bus, subway, taxi, shared bikes, etc.; Small cities and suburb areas may not have subway lines, but they have mature bus system at least. The rapid development of high-speed train has also pushed people to use airplanes and cars less frequently, because it is cheaper, time-saving, safe, comfortable, nice landscape view, and environmentally friendly. According to China Discovery, the carbon emission from high-speed train is only 15 – 25% of the same distance from car and plane. The image below shows the high speed train network map in China, as you can see that it runs through most parts of China.
300 kilometer / hour (186 miles / hour)
Besides common transportation like bus, subway, and taxi, “Didi” has become very popular, which is a company that offers services through their App for private cars haling, taxi hailing, ride-sharing, delivery, and so on. It is very similar to Uber and has been widely used by Chinese people in most cities. About five years ago, bike sharing including both normal bikes and electric bike started its revolution and has become another major public transportation in China, especially it helps people to avoid traffic and save time as well. People just easily scan the QR code to unlock the bike and park them wherever they want (most time there are open spaces on the sidewalk allowing for bike parking), and people pay through the mobile wallet based on the distance they have ridden. With the increasing awareness of environmental protection, this industry is growing bigger and has been an important travel tool.
As environmental sustainability became one of the main focuses for country’s development, there is a big transition from normal cars to electric vehicles. According to Canalys, there were 3.1 million electric vehicles sold in China in 2020 which represented 41% of global EV sale, and 1.9 million EVs are expected to be sold in China in 2021 which might be a minimum 50% of sale growth. With the rapid expansion of bike sharing, car sharing has also started its journey. Car sharing has the same concept as bike sharing, which allows people to operate and pay through the mobile app. Most of these sharing cars are plug-in electric vehicles (new energy vehicles) which include battery electric vehicles (BEV), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV), and fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV), and there are different locations in the city allowing sharing cars to park and charge.
The public transportation for Chinese is just as important as cars for Americans, especially under the threat of climate crisis and the pressure from the huge population, various options of public transportation are essential for people’s daily life.
It was a big shock when China announced the Plastic Import Ban in 2018, because this added pressure to the rest of the world on waste management but also pushed the world on the progress of innovations. Besides announcing the Plastic Import Ban there is a big transformation of waste management in China as well that started with a new version of waste sorting which has also passed the law. For entities who failed waste sorting will get a fine of RMB 5,000 – 50,000 (about USD 730 – 7,300), and individuals can be fined around RMB 50 – 200 (about USD 7.3 – 30). Also, this regulation has also bonded with people’s credit score that will affect so many things if people failed doing it. Shanghai was one of the major cities started implementing waste sorting and has now become a daily practice for Shanghai people. Instead of having trash cans for only recyclable waste and normal waste, this new version of waste sorting is classified as four categories: recyclable waste, household waste (wet waste), residual waste (dry waste), and hazardous waste.
Recyclable waste: paper, plastic, glass, metal, textiles, etc. (these have to be cleaned first).
Household waste (wet waste): leftovers, rotten food, pet food, eggshells, plants, etc. (wastes that can be decomposed; however, things like gum and big bones which are hard to break should be put in residual waste).
Residual waste (dry waste): tissues (wet tissues), bubble teacups, single-use utensils, household waste, etc. (wastes that cannot be desomposed and recycled).
Hazardous waste: light bulbs, medicine, pesticides, makeups, etc. (wastes that are harmful to the public health and the environment).
This new waste sorting scheme confused a lot of people at the beginning, but people got much better on this practice which has become a norm today in Shanghai. As one of the pilot locations, Shanghai has pushed this transformation of waste management throughout the country, and more and more cities started their journey on waste sorting.
Along with the waste sorting, single-use plastics and non-degradable plastics are also expected to reduce by 30% by 2025 throughout the nation (there are different stages and strategies in this progress: https://www.waste360.com/legislation-regulation/china-unveils-five-year-plan-ban-single-use-plastics). Many major cities started with banning single-use plastic straws, plastic bags and takeout food packages, and “No Utensil” option on delivery apps is strongly recommended which helps with the plastic reduction. Also, more bubble tea shops and café shops started allowing customers to use their own cups which might have discount on their order. Even though there are not a lot of people taking cups to the shops yet due to the inconvenience of carrying a cup around, this option is still a good move on waste reduction and will be effective as more people start realizing the climate crisis.
If you bring your own cup, you will get a discount of paying 5RMB less (As you see the sign of “- 5“); Chinese people use WeChat / Alipay anywhere they go (as you see the QR code in the picture).
As a part of Chinese national spirit throughout the history, thrift is something Chinese people want to pass on to the future generation, especially under the era with rapid economic development that thrift has fleeting for many people. Not only to pass on this national spirit but also to help with the food waste which is one of the global issues related to the environment, 2020 was the second time that China launched “Clean Plate” campaign, which aims to reduce food waste by ordering smaller portions in the restaurant and cooking just enough at home. Started with major cities, the government assigns supervisors to restaurants to help with customers’ food order, and many restaurants have also started offering small portion orders to prevent food waste. “Big stomach” vlogs are discouraged and these vloggers are prohibited to eat extremely large amount of food at one sitting, because this eating-vlog trend is not only generating a lot of food wastes but also bad for the health. Once the campaign was launched, it was widely spread on TV, newspaper, and social media, so more and more people started participating in this action.
A volunteer is suggesting a family to save food and reduce the waste while they are in restaurant.
There are many other green initiatives that have been applying in this society differently, especially in this amazing digital era. Apps like WeChat, Alipay, Meituan, Didi, etc. are essential apps that Chinese people use almost everyday, and making payments on the phone is also considered more environmentally friendly. I will talk about the sustainability innovations behind these apps in my future article specifically, especially about Alipay. Like I have always said, the efforts of government and entities must combine with the efforts of individuals to deal with climate change, and now China is on the way of this green journey even though it will take long. We all understand this is an extremely hard work, but we have to face it and walk it through.