First Online Workshop of “Promoting Individual Low-carbon Consumption” was Held
On March 26th of 2020, organized by Energy Foundation China (EF China) and Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), International Technical Supporting Platform for City Emission Peaking (ISP-CEP) held the first online workshop of “Promoting Individual Low-carbon Consumption”. Representatives and experts from China National Textile and Apparel Council, Didi, Meituan-Dianping, Carbonstop, ClimateWorks Foundation and 11 members organization of ISP-CEP jointly attended the workshop.
Photo by Wang Yaling, NRDC
Reported by National Bureau of Statistics, China’s final consumption expenditure contributed nearly 60% of the total economic growth in 2019. At present, national and local governments are paying more and more attention to the role of consumption in stimulating the economy, and constantly promoting green consumption from policy and practice aspects. Also, many enterprises initiate green consumption projects. With the support of EF China, ISP-CEP was established by 11 international NGOs in 2017, aiming to support low carbon development in Chinese cities. Promoting low carbon consumption, which is one of the most important component of green consumption, is recognized as one of the most highlighted working areas of ISP-CEP.
During this workshop, experts and representatives from China National Textile and Apparel Council, Didi, Meituan-Dianping, Carbonstop introduced their current practices on promoting individual low carbon consumption respectively, and challenges and opportunities they are facing. Members from World Resources Institute, World Wildlife Fund, EF China and NRDC expressed their opinions as well. All attendees discussed how to better play the roles of NGOs in the field of promoting individual low carbon consumption and achieve win-win cooperation with enterprises.
Backdrop of this meeting, from Wang Yaling, NRDC
Ms. QIAN Jingjing, Chairman of ISP-CEP and Director of China Program of NRDC, pointed that, with the support of ClimateWorks Foundation and potentials support from other charity organizations in the future, ISP-CEP targets to cultivate an ecosystem of stakeholders who are committed to promoting individual low-carbon consumption, and strive to jointly initiate sectoral and regional collaborations, to help scale up individual low-carbon consumption.
Mr. WANG Zhigao, Director of Low-carbon Cities Program of EF China, expressed that, incentives, trend and technology are these key words. It will achieve more with less if new technology could be used to fully encourage consumers to willingly choose low carbon products and foster green consumption preference, so that the whole society gradually formed the trend of using green products as priority.
Experts all agreed that now it is the right time to launch individual low carbon consumption advocacy activities. The environmental impact of personal consumption is increasingly prominent because various new consumption models and new services, such as online shopping, express delivery, take-away, shared travelling, and night economy, are constantly developing with the help of mobile Internet prosperity. Some experts also suggested that, industries should incorporate green and low-carbon concepts as much as possible in each link, from green design, intermediate links (including logistics, transportation, packaging, etc.) and to corporate responsibility extension (including recycling, trade-in, etc.).
ISP-CEP will maintain close communication and collaboration with key enterprises in the future, for discussing how to establish a larger cross-sector platform of promoting individual low-carbon consumption behavior, and enhancing the public's preference on low-carbon consumption. .
