The Chinese government has been employing a bottom-up approach to sustainability through pilot programs in individual cities, boosting investment in clean energy by 20 percent since last year.
On a trip to China, Michael Schmitz observed how the growing, centralized economic giant has been deploying localized sustainability measures to its cities.
Last year, China surpassed the U.S. nearly twofold in clean energy investment, which reached $65.1 billion, up 20 percent from last year.
Electric vehicle deployments are a large part of its sustainable strategy. While the central government aims to deploy 1,000 EVs to each of 13 pilot cities, participants are expected to meet and surpass this goal with Shenzen expected to reach 24,000 by the end of the program.
Creating local carbon markets and enforcing its Three Star Green Building rating system in pilot cities, while following through on analyzing results, are other strategies the Chinese government is using to foster a bottom-up sustainability approach in the country.
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