Xiamen makes progress in promoting 'green circulation'

Since 2020, the Xiamen municipal bureau of commerce has been promoting the transformation of traditional shopping malls into "green shopping malls", establishing green management mechanisms and whole-chain green systems.

The bureau's "go green" call has seen an active response from enterprises.

Cai Yifen, official from a local shopping mall in Xiamen, East China's Fujian province, said that compared with conventional roofs, the green roof is more eco-friendly, and helps to bring down the shopping mall's carbon emissions.

For one thing, the tree shadow can lower the temperature in summer, which will reduce the use of air-conditioners and extend the building’s life span. For another, the green roof can transfer rain into a collector in the basement when it is raining. This prevents water from staying on the roof, and helps recycle the rainwater, Cai added. Last year, the amount of water and energy saved by the green roof were worth 1.5 million yuan ($225,000).

The bureau is also promoting green building standards for shopping malls city-wide, encouraging enterprises to set up green operation models according to those standards. Guided by the principle of the highly-efficient use and recycling of resources, the bureau supports firms which undergo energy-efficient reforms by deploying eco-friendly technologies and products.

The green campaign can also be seen in the industrial supply chain. Chen Jiangji, an official from Xiamen Huli Wanda Plaza Business Management Co, said that 80 percent of agricultural products are now traceable and accountable across the whole supply chain. All customers need to do to get this information is to scan the QR code stuck on the product, then details about how the product was produced and processed will pop up on their mobile phone.

In addition to supply chains, the corporation is also seeking to achieve green development in consumption and service chains.

Green consumption has become a new fashion in the city. Xiamen’s commerce bureau has issued documents to guide the use and recycling of disposable plastic products. Shopping malls and supermarkets are advised to use paper and cloth bags, or degradable plastic bags.

According to a 2021 survey on green consumption, the generations born in the 1990s and 2000s have achieved a "green consumption recognition rate" of 90 and 97 percent respectively.