Beijing to keep boosting number of energy-efficient projects

Beijing will further transform energy structures in energy saving as part of its effort to promote the low-carbon concept to build a green city with renewable energy becoming a priority for the capital, a senior city development and reform official said on Tuesday.

The city will continue to boost a number of energy-efficient projects, and will give impetus to a continuous increase in energy efficiency to ensure the effort delivers real benefits, according to Tan Xuxiang, director of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform.

"Beijing has been ranked at the top in energy consumption per unit of GDP and carbon dioxide emissions in the past five years. The city has achieved a relatively high rate of economic growth with comparably low consumption of resources and energy," he said.

Tan made the remarks at the kick-off activity of the China-Europe Cooperation Partnership Dialogue on Green Development in Beijing on Tuesday.

Present were government officials, researchers and entrepreneurs from 70 well-known enterprises in 11 European countries and 26 Chinese companies. The discussions focused on promoting green, low-carbon, and sustainable development and strengthening practical cooperation between China and Europe.

Zhao Weiliang, country chairman of TotalEnergies China, the local unit of French energy company TotalEnergies, said as a leading international oil and gas company, they are willing to cooperate with Chinese enterprises to reach peak carbon-dioxide emissions and attain carbon neutrality.

He said to cope with climate change, the company is making every possible contribution to the global response, with cooperation in the sector.

Green development is an important part of China's new development philosophy. China has set ambitious goals and visions for promoting green development to build a harmonious human-animal coexistence modernization, said Su Wei, deputy secretary-general of the National Development and Reform Commission.