The 2025 Carbon Peak and Carbon Neutrality Forum and Shenzhen National Low-Carbon City Forum, held last week at the Shenzhen International Low Carbon City in Longgang District, convened a formidable assembly of Chinese policymakers, leading scientists and engineers, and international experts to address one of the most complex challenges of our time.
上周，龙岗区深圳国际低碳城成功举办了2025碳达峰碳中和论坛暨深圳国家低碳城论坛。该论坛汇聚了中国政策制定者、顶尖科学家、工程师以及国际专家，共同探讨当今时代最复杂的挑战之一。

Around the central theme of "AI Empowering Urban Green Development," the event was designed not merely to showcase Shenzhen's achievements, but to "gather global wisdom" and "inject surging momentum" into the urban green transition.

本次论坛以“AI赋能城市绿色发展”为主题，不仅展示了深圳的成果，更旨在“汇聚全球智慧”，为城市绿色转型“注入澎湃动能”。

Over two days of intensive speeches and dialogues, a powerful narrative emerged. The forum detailed Shenzhen's pioneering domestic model for decarbonization, explored the critical technologies — from national grids to advanced materials — that underpin this transition, and culminated in a unified call from global leaders for the international standards and collaboration required to scale local successes into a global solution.
在两天密集的演讲与交流中，一条清晰有力的主线逐渐浮现。论坛全面展现了深圳在脱碳领域的先行示范模式，探讨了全国电网、先进材料等支撑绿色转型的关键技术。论坛最后，全球领袖共同呼吁：制定国际标准，加强全球合作，将地方成功经验推广为全球解决方案。

Forging Shenzhen's green blueprint

打造深圳绿色蓝图

The forum’s opening sessions articulated a clear, top-down “policy stack,” demonstrating how China's national "Dual Carbon" goals are translated into provincial governance and executed through Shenzhen’s pioneer projects.
论坛开幕会议清晰展示了一套自上而下的“政策体系”，阐释了中国的“双碳”目标如何转化为省级治理，并通过深圳的先行项目落地实施。

At the provincial level, Qin Liming, deputy director of the Guangdong Provincial Development and Reform Commission, outlined a strategy anchored in digital governance. He highlighted the creation of the Guangdong Carbon Cloud (Yue Tan Yun), an AI-enabled platform for the comprehensive "measuring, calculating, monitoring, and controlling" of carbon emissions.
广东省发展改革委党组成员、副主任秦黎明介绍了以数字化治理为核心的战略。他重点提到了“粤碳云”平台的建设——这一平台由AI驱动，可实现碳排放的“测、算、观、控”全流程管理。

If Guangdong provided the strategy, Shenzhen provides the proof. Zhang Hua, Vice Mayor of Shenzhen, positioned the city as the  "pioneer" and "innovative city" — a living laboratory where policy becomes practice. She cataloged a series of tangible, high-tech achievements, including the construction of a "world-class super-charging city" and a "globally leading green building cluster."
如果说广东制定了战略，那么深圳就提供了验证。深圳市政府副市长张华将深圳定位为“先行者”和“创新之城”——一个将政策转化为实践的“活实验室”。她列举了多项高科技成果，包括建设“世界级超充之城”和“全球领先的绿色建筑群”。

Zhang noted that the city leverages its homegrown AI leaders like Huawei and Tencent to pioneer the development of smart grids and intelligent connected vehicles. This strategy proves that a green transition can be a powerful engine for economic vitality. Simultaneously, it creates a desirable urban environment — a fact evidenced by the city’s 1,300 parks and best-in-class air quality.
张华指出，深圳依托华为、腾讯等本土AI龙头企业，率先推进智能电网与智能网联汽车的发展。这一战略证明，绿色转型不仅能成为经济增长的新引擎，也能同时打造高品质的城市环境——深圳的1300座公园和全国领先的空气质量就是最好的证明。

The AI engine: Technology at every scale

AI引擎：全方位赋能的科技力量

While policy sets the direction, the forum’s technical keynotes revealed that technology, with AI as its universal enabler, provides the power. A crucial duality emerged: a pragmatic, security-focused national energy strategy operating at the macro scale, and a high-tech, “frontier” urban innovation agenda working with advanced materials.
政策指明方向，技术则提供动力。论坛的技术主题演讲揭示了AI作为通用赋能工具在其中发挥的核心作用。需要双轨并行：以务实和安全为核心、在宏观层面运行的国家能源战略，以及以先进材料为基础、推动高科技“前沿”城市创新议程。

Representing the national perspective, Tang Guangfu, Director of the Huairou Laboratory, delivered a realist’s assessment of China’s energy challenge.
怀柔实验室主任汤广福从国家层面对中国的能源形势作出务实分析。

He proposed that in building a new energy system, efforts should focus on developing wind and solar power, flexible coal-fired generation, deepening the transformation and upgrading of the power system, promoting hydrogen energy, and coordinating the development of other energy sources. In terms of key and frontier technologies, emphasis should be placed on breakthroughs in areas such as deep-sea wind power + next-generation photovoltaics, flexible coal-fired power + CCUS [carbon capture, utilization, and storage], new grid configurations + advanced power equipment, hydrogen energy + new energy storage solutions, and demand-supply interaction + digital technologies, etc.
他提出在构建新型能源体系过程中，要发展“风光”、灵活性煤电、深化电力系统转型升级、推动氢能发展、协同发展其他能源。在关键技术和前沿技术方面要重视突破深远海风电+新型光伏关键技术、灵活燃煤发电+CCUS（二氧化碳捕集、利用与封存）、新型电网形态+新型电力装备、氢能+新型储能、供需互动+数字化技术等。

Cheng Huiming, Director of the Institute of Carbon Neutrality Technology at the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, focused on the frontier technologies being invented to solve the transition's hardest physical bottlenecks at the urban level.
中国科学院深圳先进技术研究院碳中和技术研究所所长成会明则聚焦城市层面，介绍了突破绿色转型物理瓶颈的前沿技术。

Cheng emphasized that advancing urban carbon neutrality requires special attention to the utilization of new energy, the transformation of low-carbon industrial processes, the construction of low- or zero-carbon buildings, and the development of green transportation.
成会明强调，推进城市碳中和，要特别关注新能源的利用、工业低碳工艺的变革、低碳或零碳建筑的建造以及绿色交通的构建。

This focus on the building blocks of sustainability was applied to the building sector by Réne Sigg, senior consultant at Intep Integrated Planning and Consulting Co. Ltd. He described the future of circular construction as designing buildings not as disposable structures, but as “material banks.”
Intep公司的高级顾问瑞士专家Réne Sigg将这种对可持续性基础要素的关注延伸到建筑领域，他认为“循环建筑”的未来是将建筑设计成“材料银行”，而非一次性结构。

In this model, every component, from façade panels to interior fittings, is tracked via a “material passport,” ensuring it can be “reused, repurposed, or recycled at the end of its life.”
在这种模式下，从外墙板到内部装饰的每个构件都有“材料护照”，确保在生命周期结束后可以“再利用、再设计或再循环”。

This complex lifecycle management, Sigg explained, is made possible by sophisticated digital tools. “Digitalization is transforming how we conceive, build, and operate buildings,” he noted, explaining that “tools such as AI and digital twins allow us to simulate and optimize performance long before construction begins,” ultimately creating spaces that are not only efficient but enhance the well-being of the people inside.
Sigg解释说，这种复杂的生命周期管理得益于先进的数字化工具。“数字化正在改变我们对建筑的构思、建造和运营方式，”他说，“AI和数字孪生技术让我们在动工前就能模拟并优化建筑性能，从而创造出高效且提升人类幸福感的空间。”

This vision was echoed by international experts like Laura Van Wie McGrory, head of Global Clean Energy Engagement, Polsky Global Energy Transition Center, World Resources Institute (WRI), who highlighted two key areas for technological collaboration.
世界资源研究所（WRI）波尔斯基全球能源转型中心，清洁能源全球参与负责人劳拉·范·威·麦格罗瑞也呼应了这一观点，并提出了两大技术合作重点。

First, she pointed to Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) technology, where EV fleets act as "energy hubs" to stabilize the grid. In a clear nod to the city’s progress, she explicitly cited Shenzhen as a "really good example" and a global leader in V2G deployment, demonstrating a clear opportunity for shared learning.
第一是“车网互动（V2G）”技术，即电动汽车车队作为“能源枢纽”帮助稳定电网运行。她特别提到深圳的成功，称其是“极佳范例”和全球V2G应用的领导者，体现出经验共享的巨大潜力。

Second, she introduced the emerging solution of "advanced conductors," which replace the steel core of existing transmission lines with a lighter carbon composite. This technology, she explained, can double the grid's capacity at a fraction of the cost and time — five to ten times cheaper than building new lines — providing a powerful tool for cities and nations struggling with aging infrastructure and rising energy demand.

第二，“先进导体”技术——用轻质碳复合材料取代传统输电线的钢芯。这项技术能以更低成本和更短时间使电网输电能力翻倍，成本仅为新建线路的五分之一到十分之一，为面临老化基础设施与能源需求上升压力的城市和国家提供了强大助力。

Scaling success: The call for global standards

扩大成功经验：呼吁制定全球标准

The forum’s international contingent delivered a unified and powerful message: technology and local ambition are no longer the primary bottlenecks. The most significant barrier to a global green transition is a "consensus crisis" — a lack of the shared standards, policies, and financial rules needed to build trust and unlock investment at scale.
论坛的国际嘉宾们发出了统一而有力的声音：技术与地方雄心已不再是主要瓶颈。全球绿色转型面临的最大障碍，是“共识危机”——缺乏共同的标准、政策与金融规则，难以建立信任并推动大规模投资。

Tatiana Schmollack-Tarasova, managing director of the British Standards Institution (BSI) China, framed this challenge most starkly, warning of a “growing maze of different frameworks and reporting requirements” that creates confusion and stalls investment. The antidote, she argued, is trust. “Without trust,” she stated, “we cannot scale success.”
英国标准协会（BSI）大中华区董事总经理石慕澜博士清晰指出所面临的挑战——不断增多的“各类框架和报告要求”正在形成一座“迷宫”，导致混乱并阻碍投资。她强调，破解之道在于“信任”。“没有信任，”她说，“我们就无法扩大成功。”

The solution, she argued, is consensus-driven international standards, such as the upcoming ISO standard for Net Zero. She challenged China to take the data from its "living laboratories" like Shenzhen and bring it to global platforms like ISO to help build this essential consensus. For companies lost in the "maze," her advice was pragmatic: use a "double materiality" principle to focus on the ESG criteria that are most critical both financially and environmentally.
她指出，解决之道是基于共识的国际标准，如即将发布的“净零排放”ISO标准。她敦促中国将深圳等“活实验室”的数据带上国际标准化组织（ISO）这样的国际平台，为形成全球共识贡献力量。对于在“迷宫”中迷失方向的企业，她给出务实建议：要采用“双重重要性”原则，聚焦那些在财务与环境层面都至关重要的ESG指标。

This call for shared rules was powerfully reinforced. Riccardo Mesiano, deputy director, East and North-East Asia Subregional Office, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), identified a primary barrier as the tendency for governments to treat climate policy as a “separate agenda.” To be effective, he argued, climate goals must be integrated directly into macroeconomic frameworks and industrial policy.
其他人也响应这一对“共同规则”的呼吁。亚洲及太平洋经济社会委员会东亚和东北亚次区域办事处副主任里卡多·梅西亚诺指出，一个主要障碍在于各国政府往往将气候政策视为“独立议题”。他认为，要想有效实施，气候目标就必须直接纳入宏观经济和产业政策框架。

Professor Vilas Nitivattananon of the Asian Institute of Technology provided a crucial nuance, praising Shenzhen as an excellent model for mega-cities but cautioning that its high-tech, top-down approach must be adapted, not simply copied, for smaller cities that require more "bottom-up" engagement. This underscores the need for a collaborative approach based on shared learning, not just one-way instruction.
亚洲理工学院教授维拉斯·尼提瓦塔南农提出了重要补充，他赞扬深圳是特大型城市的优秀典范，但提醒道：深圳的高科技、自上至下的模式应“因地制宜”地调整，而非简单地照搬到中小城市——这些城市更需要“自下而上”的参与。这一观点再次强调，我们需要基于互学共进的协作方式，而非单向输出。

The forum's ultimate message was that collaboration is the only path forward, a point articulated by Janneke de Vries, Director of EU Partnership Affairs, European Office, World Resources Institute (WRI). In an era of “geopolitical tensions and fragmented supply chains,” she argued that cooperation on climate and green industry can serve as a crucial “stabilizing bridge.” She pointed specifically to the EU-China Common Ground Taxonomy for sustainable finance as a prime example of this principle in action.
论坛的最终共识是：唯有合作，才能前行。世界资源研究所（WRI）欧洲办公室欧盟伙伴关系事务总监詹内克·德·弗里斯强调，在“地缘政治局势紧张和供应链碎片化”的时代，气候与绿色产业合作正是重要的“稳定桥梁”。她以“中欧可持续金融共同分类标准”为例，阐释了这一原则的实际作用。

By creating a shared definition of “what counts as genuinely green,” the taxonomy gives investors and companies a “clearer view” and builds confidence and stability in the market. This coordinated policy, de Vries explained, allows the two major economic blocs to actively “reduce uncertainty for global markets,” proving that even in a complex world, shared green standards are not just an environmental goal, but a powerful tool for ensuring global economic stability and progress.
通过制定“何为真正绿色”的共同定义，这一标准为投资者和企业提供了“更清晰的视角”，并增强了市场信心与市场稳定性。德·弗里斯解释说，这一协调机制使中欧两大经济体能够共同“降低全球市场的不确定性”，充分证明共同的绿色标准不仅是环保目标，更是确保全球经济稳定与进步的有力工具。

The path forward: Forging consensus

前行之路：共建全球共识

The 2025 Carbon Peak and Carbon Neutrality Forum did more than just celebrate progress — it signaled a crucial inflection point. It made clear that the technical challenges of the green transition are rapidly being met with an arsenal of solutions powered by AI and frontier science. The new, more urgent challenge is one of governance and trust.
2025碳达峰碳中和论坛的意义远不止于庆祝成果——它标志着一个关键的转折点。论坛明确指出，绿色转型的技术难题正被AI与前沿科技的解决方案迅速突破。而治理与信任则成为了新的、更紧迫的挑战。

Shenzhen has successfully positioned itself as a world leader in demonstrating what is technologically possible. The city’s open invitation to the world, however, shows a keen understanding that its own success is intrinsically linked to the creation of a global system of shared rules.
深圳已成功确立其在全球绿色科技创新中的领先地位。然而，它向世界发出的开放邀请也表明，深圳深知自身的成功与全球共享规则体系的建立密不可分。

As speaker after speaker affirmed, from green shipping corridors between Asia and the U.S. to common financial standards between Europe and China, collaboration is not just an ideal, but an economic and environmental non-negotiable. The forum’s ultimate message is that the blueprint has been drawn — the time has come to build the global consensus needed to construct a sustainable future, together.
正如多位嘉宾所强调的那样，从亚美绿色航运通道到中欧绿色金融标准，合作不仅是一种理想，更是经济与环境发展的“必选项”。论坛所传达的最终信息是：蓝图已绘就，现在是时候携手构建全球共识，共同打造可持续的未来。