Beijing wins C40 climate award at COP30

A Beijing project won a prestigious climate award Tuesday during the COP30 U.N. climate conference in Rio de Janeiro, becoming the only Chinese city among 12 global winners.

The initiative, titled "Building a Climate-Resilient Beijing Municipal Administrative Center," was honored in the "Safer Infrastructure for a Changing World" category at the Local Leaders Forum. The C40 Cities Bloomberg Philanthropies Award recognized the project's pioneering climate adaptation efforts.

The C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group is an international, non-governmental organization dedicated to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, responding to climate change and improving the health and well-being of urban residents. The group covers nearly 100 major cities worldwide.

Beijing was recognized for its groundbreaking systemic planning in the city's sub-center in Tongzhou district. The honor showcases China's effective climate strategy and highlights Beijing's innovative approach to becoming a global green economy benchmark.

The Beijing Municipal Administrative Center has systematically integrated climate resilience into its core design since construction began in 2019.

Located in an alluvial plain with dense river networks, the center features a robust flood control system consisting of multiple weirs and rivers capable of withstanding a once-in-a-century flood event.

The area's sponge city efforts achieved a 48.2% compliance rate in 2024, successfully preventing significant urban flooding during recent extreme rainstorms.

This green transformation has yielded significant environmental gains. Since construction began, the average annual concentration of fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) has fallen 26%, and carbon emission intensity has dropped roughly 20% as of 2024. The area has also achieved a forest coverage rate of 34.62%.

These changes have substantially mitigated the "heat island" effect, where cities experience much warmer temperatures than surrounding rural areas, with surface temperatures dropping 2 to 3 degrees Celsius during summer peaks. 

The improved ecology has attracted wildlife, including the critically endangered Great Bustard, a Chinese first-class protected bird that has wintered in the area for several years. The region now hosts 370 wild bird species, transforming the vision of a livable, green city into a daily reality for residents.

The city's sub-center project exemplifies Beijing's broader, long-term commitment to high-quality, green development. The city has optimized its industrial, energy and transportation structures, resulting in marked reductions in energy consumption and carbon intensity.

Since 2012, Beijing's GDP has grown 130%, yet its energy consumption per unit of GDP and carbon emissions per unit of GDP have both fallen more than 50%, maintaining the highest efficiency level among China's provincial regions.