Chinese and European experts are cooperating, through meetings, conferences, roundtables and workshops, to gain valuable insights into clean energy. Government and business stakeholders highlighted their willingness to strengthen EU-China cooperation on energy security. Sustainability concepts to do more with less harm are developed in Europe for successful applications of the “reduce, reuse, recycle” hierarchy in industry. Based on this, it is possible to re-design products that, after their useful life, they can be much environment-friendly than what is possible today.
The China-Europe cooperation involves a “Demo Zone Initiative” that supports the city of Urumqi in technological innovation, low-carbon urban planning and circular economy by introducing successful EU experiences and technologies. Urumqi is one of the most pol- luted cities in China and the world because of heavy air pollution from industrial sulfur dioxide emissions. The dominant industries are petrochemical, metallurgical and textiles. The goal of the “Demo Zone Initiative” is to establish a win-win method to be replicated in other Chinese cities using a toolkit for urban action and district energy planning with local project financing and public-private partnerships (PPP).
The Chinese-European cooperation, by being inter-sectorial and inter-disciplinary, has synergistic effects that bring added value to education, public awareness, construction, industry, transport, environment, decision-making, capacity building, education, research and development.