Asia Pacific Forum on Low Carbon Development Green Future Driven by Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality

In September 2015, Takehiko Nakao, then President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), was invited to visit Hunan and witnessed the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation to Promote Climate Technology Development and Deployment together with Du Jiahao, then Governor of Hunan Province. This is the first MOU signed between ADB and the Chinese provincial government, embarking on a new journey of diversified and pragmatic cooperation between the two sides in low-carbon development. According to the MOU, both sides agreed to co-host the Asia-Pacific Summit on Low Carbon Technology.

Since 2016, the Forum has been successfully held for five years, and has gradually become a flagship event in the field of low-carbon technology in the PRC and even the Asia-Pacific region, greatly boosting investment and cooperation in low-carbon technology, and strengthening exchanges among Asia-Pacific countries and regions. During the 2018 Forum, Takehiko Nakao, then President of ADB, exchanged letters with Xu Dazhe, then Governor of Hunan Province, and highly commended the Forum for advancing cooperation between the two sides in environmental protection and addressing climate change, as well as influencing policy dialogue among Asia-Pacific regions.

In 2019, along with the government agency restructuring, the Ecology and Environment Department of Hunan took up the baton from the Development and Reform Commission of Hunan Province and continued to host the the Forum together with ADB. The first three Forums mainly focused on promoting the application of low-carbon technologies. In order to thoroughly apply Xi Jinping’s Thought on Ecological Civilization, take coordinated steps to further control greenhouse gas emissions and to prevent air pollution, and boost the green and low-carbon development in Hunan Province, the 2019 Forum was officially renamed from the original “Asia-Pacific Summit on Low Carbon Technology” to “Asia Pacific Forum on Green and Low Carbon Development”, which is more in line with the new development philosophy of innovative, coordinated, green, open, and shared development.

In 2020, People’s Government of Hunan Province and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment signed the Agreement on Strengthening Cooperation to Support High-level Ecology and Environment Protection to Promote High-quality Economic Development, in which both sides agreed to upgrade the Forum into a high-level international platform with the theme of addressing climate change. In 2021, the ADB and Department of Ecology and Environment of Hunan signed the Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation to Promote Green and Low Carbon Development, to share leading green and low-carbon technologies through jointly hosting this Forum every year. In the future, the Forum will achieve more outcomes with standardized and normalized operation, showcase Chinese advanced practices, and further enhance knowledge dissemination and sharing of low carbon solutions and technologies.

Watch the recording here.