The "double carbon" strategic goal of "carbon dioxide emissions should reach the peak before 2030 and strive to achieve carbon neutrality before 2060" is not only China’s solemn commitment, but also an extensive and profound systematic economic and social change. For this reason, energy, industry, transportation, housing and urban and rural construction have pressed the "acceleration button" of "carbon reduction and decarbonization". The city, which integrates the above fields, is the main body to implement the strategic goal of "double carbon" and puts forward new challenges and requirements for the corresponding planning. Under the strategic goal of "double carbon", urban planning needs to refine the timetable and road map for achieving peak carbon dioxide emissions and carbon neutrality in urban space, and formulate action plans to guide peak carbon dioxide emissions goals and carbon reduction paths in various fields. Therefore, according to the characteristics of different stages, three types of actions can be carried out in a targeted manner.
Building space energy efficiency improvement action: promoting peak carbon dioxide emissions as soon as possible
At present, countries, provinces and cities are stepping up the formulation of peak carbon dioxide emissions time and peak total, and at the same time adopting carbon emission quota control. The first performance cycle of the power generation industry in the national carbon market was officially launched at the beginning of this year. It is foreseeable that various industries and cities will gradually implement carbon emission quota control and bring it into the unified carbon trading market. Under the guidance of the market, in order to avoid the cost of exceeding the quota, the energy and industrial sectors will take the initiative to reduce production capacity, improve energy efficiency or implement clean energy substitution actions. On the premise of balancing development and emission reduction, improving the energy efficiency of built-up space is a feasible way for most cities to realize peak carbon dioxide emissions as soon as possible. The overall energy efficiency improvement of the built-up space will cover energy, industry, transportation, housing and urban and rural construction, and the measures include clean and efficient utilization of fossil energy, energy-saving technological transformation of industrial enterprises, recycling of industrial products, and energy-saving oriented building transformation. In addition to improving the energy efficiency of the existing "high carbon" stock space, the "high carbon" incremental space will be strictly controlled. For example, the Guiding Opinions on Strengthening the Prevention and Control of Eco-environmental Sources of Construction Projects with High Energy Consumption and High Emissions issued by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment proposes to incorporate carbon emission impact assessment into the environmental impact assessment system. Therefore, the improvement of space energy efficiency and strict control of "high carbon" incremental space will become the key actions for cities to get rid of the "high carbon lock-in" effect and realize peak carbon dioxide emissions as soon as possible.
"Zero-carbon" Urban Renewal Action: Helping Rapid Emission Reduction
"Zero-carbon" urban renewal is the "ultimate version" of green urban renewal. Compared with the concepts of "low carbon" and "near zero carbon emission", "zero carbon" takes communities, parks, etc. as carbon emission boundaries more clearly, and realizes zero net carbon emission in the whole life cycle. The "clean renewal" of energy infrastructure is the top priority. As far as energy production is concerned, renewable energy units, peak shaving units and energy storage facilities will be developed on a large scale; As far as the transmission end is concerned, in addition to the "large power grid" with centralized production and long-distance transmission across regions, microgrids with distributed production and local consumption will be built in areas with concentrated loads, and a distributed clean energy facility network covering communities and parks will be built through urban renewal; As far as the user side is concerned, the terminals in the fields of industry, transportation, construction, etc. are electrified and upgraded, leaving an interface for full access to clean energy. Under the pressure of emission reduction targets, new buildings in the city will be built and operated in a "zero-carbon" mode, and "high-carbon" behaviors such as excessive construction and large-scale demolition and construction will be put an end to. The zero-carbon transformation of built-up space will become the main task, and the city will promote the pilot projects of zero-carbon communities, zero-carbon parks and zero-carbon buildings to achieve overall emission reduction from point to area. Fossil energy-related facilities (such as coal mines, oil fields, thermal power plants, oil pipelines, etc.) will be abandoned. The "zero-carbon" urban renewal action can realize the transformation from "high carbon to zero carbon" and "carbon emission to carbon sink" by closing out coal mines, oil fields and other spaces, implementing ecological reclamation and building renewable energy facilities such as wind, light and electricity.
In the "zero-carbon" urban renewal, cities in the western region will face greater opportunities and risks. On the one hand, the opportunity lies in the abundant renewable resources and lower cost of renewable energy in the western region, on the other hand, the western region has good fossil energy endowment and good mining conditions, and will assume the role of "ballast stone" of fossil energy in the future, ensuring the raw material attributes and strategic security attributes of fossil energy. The risk is that the high-carbon locking effect of cities in the western region is stronger, which may lead to the time lag or high peak in peak carbon dioxide emissions, thus missing the opportunity of renewable energy industry reform and going further and further on the "old energy" track.
Urban carbon sink enhancement action: achieving comprehensive neutralization
The "zero-carbon" urban renewal action realizes the overall emission reduction of the city from point to area, but the fossil energy consumption that ensures strategic security cannot be completely replaced. This part of carbon emission needs the support of the urban carbon sink enhancement action and the application of new technologies (carbon capture, carbon storage, etc.), so as to achieve comprehensive neutralization. The National Forest Management Plan (2016-2050) proposes that in 2050, the national forest coverage rate will be stable at more than 26%, and the forest stock will reach more than 23 billion cubic meters, which is close to the maximum potential of China’s forest coverage rate estimated by relevant state departments and may reach about 28%, corresponding to the forest stock of about 28.5 billion cubic meters.
Therefore, the urban carbon sink enhancement action should achieve "both quantity and quality", and promote the ecological restoration project oriented to improve carbon sink efficiency on the premise of continuously increasing the ecological carbon sink area. For example, cultivate tree species with strong carbon fixation ability, optimize the structure of urban forest land, and increase the proportion of forest land in the growing period. Compared with "green carbon", urban carbon sink enhancement actions should focus on the "blue carbon" space with greater carbon sequestration potential, protect important marine carbon sink resources such as mangroves, seagrass beds and coastal salt marsh wetlands, expand "carbon sink+"projects such as carbon sink fisheries and carbon sink farming, and enhance the level of urban carbon sink from the "blue-green double carbon" dimension.
Chen kai
Urban planner, now working in the third planning office of China Planning Institute (Beijing) Planning and Design Co., Ltd. His research interests are land and space planning, eco-city, low-carbon city, etc. The research results have been shared and quoted by EU Green Week partner activities.
Hu Jiyuan
Senior city planner, now working in the third planning office of China Planning Institute (Beijing) Planning and Design Co., Ltd., chief engineer. He has been engaged in strategic planning, urban master planning, land spatial planning and other research work for a long time, and participated in the drafting of provincial land spatial planning guidelines and land spatial planning management measures in the reform of land spatial planning.