On 6th November, the "2020 Green Development Innovation Conference" was successfully held in Anji County, Huzhou City, Zhejiang Province. The conference was hosted by China Association for Science and Technology, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, and Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, with the Institute of Sustainable Development Goals of Tsinghua University (TUSDG) as one of the co-organisers.
Under the theme of "Digital Economy Enabling Green Development", the conference invites famous experts, scholars and managers of global green cities to conduct academic exchanges on the topics of "Innovation and Leadership of Digital Technology in Green Development, Intelligent Environmental Protection and the Construction of a Beautiful China, Urban Intelligence and Healthy City Development".
A number of International Academic Committee members of TUSDG attended the conference, including: Jeffrey Sachs, Professor and Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, Chair of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), and Chairman of the International Academic Committee of TUSDG; Fu Xiaolan, Professor of Technology and International Development and Founding Director of the Technology and Management Centre for Development, University of Oxford, and International Academic Committee Member of the TUSDG; Patrick Paul Walsh, Professor of International Development Studies University college of Dublin, Ireland, and Director of the SDG Academy, SDSN and International Academic Committee Member of the TUSDG.
Keynote address by Jeffrey Sachs
In the keynote session, Jeffrey Sachs spoke on the topic of "Green Innovation and Cooperation in the Age of Sustainability". He pointed out that the energy systems of the future will be based more on wind, solar, water and other means to reach zero emissions than the current traditional energy sources of paraffin or natural gas. The future development of green cities is jointly facing an important transition to clean energy and digitalisation, which will lead to real improvements in people's quality of life.
Fu Xiaolan (bottom middle) and Patrick Paul Walsh (top right) participate in the online dialogue session
Afterwards, both Fu Xiaolan and Patrick Paul Walsh participated in the "Global Green Cities" dialogue session of the conference online, sharing with Chinese green city managers the innovative green city development experiences of Oxford and Dublin.
Online Speech by Fu Xiaolan
Online Speech by Patrick Paul Walsh
General Assembly on-site
This year is the 15th anniversary of the concept of "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets", and Anji County in Zhejiang Province is not only the birthplace of the concept, but also one of the best examples of green development in China. The convening of this conference is a practical action to learn and understand the essence of the concept of "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets", to practice the concept of green development, and to serve the construction of ecological civilisation with scientific and technological innovations, as well as to tell the "Anji story", to transform China's proposals and wisdom into a world consensus and promoting the building of a "a community with a shared future for mankind " is a vivid practice.
