“Giant Coal producer” Shanxi turns to green development

“What Shanxi impressed me most is, it used to have less than 1% of land-covered forests, but 50% of Shanxi’s land is covered by forests now!” Clemens von Goetze, German Ambassador to China said the above at a promotional event for Northern China’s Shanxi province, which was hosted at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on February 25. More than 500 people, including diplomats from over 130 countries, representatives from international organizations, business people and journalists, attended the event. The event was themed “China in the New Era: Shanxi, New Transformation for a Shared New Future.”

“The coals delivered from here have lighted up half of China’s electric lamps, and backed up the development of China’s modern industrial system for 70 years, ” said Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi. “Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Shanxi has moved with the times and embarked on a new journey of innovative development,” Wang added that Shanxi is vigorously promoting a greener economy and forging new industrial clusters. Shanxi is China’s only province-wide, all-dimensional and systematic National Comprehensive Reform Demonstration Zone in the Transformation of Resource-based Economy. Shanxi has been giving priority to ecological conservation and embarked onto a new phase.

Eco-Friendly transportation in Shanxi is popular to people here and becomes a part of their daily life. Taiyuan, the capital city of Shanxi is the first city of China with all BEV (Blade Electric Vehicles) taxis. 88.41 million tonnes of coal overcapacity was phased out in the Past Three Years. Advanced capacity now accounts for 57% of the production, and the emission of coal-fired power-generating units is among the lowest in the world. Wind, PV, and another alternative energy-based power generation account for over 30% of the total installed capacity in Shanxi. Transformation ignites new drivers of growth is leading innovation-driven development in Shanxi.

Shanxi is turning away from the tag of the “giant coal producer” and is striving to be a pioneer in the energy revolution. Coalbed Methane Output exceeding 5.6 billion cubic meters according to the statistics. The new energy vehicle industry clusters in Shanxi. The manufacturing and coal industries are marching towards a historic “structural inversion”. Shanxi is keeping up with the global trends of technological and industrial revolutions. The environment over the past few years has become cleaner and inspiring, said Sutton, business development director with Johnson Matthey, a Britain-based global energy and chemical company. He added that Shanxi’s vision to protect the environment is valued. “I wish to spend more time at Shanxi’s historic sites and surrounded by natural sceneries during my next trip.” No significant progress has been made in industry transformation, ecological restoration, urban and rural overall planning, and people’s livelihood has also greatly improved. 100 million trees have been planted during the past years. Shanxi has also made a big stride in developing holistic tourism. The MFA hosted the series of provincial promotional event in order to serve national development, facilitate regional opening-up and offer foreigners a platform to learn more about China. Shanxi’s promotion is the 17th presentation of the MFA’s Chinese provinces initiative and is the starting one in this year.

As part of Shanxi continued efforts to implement reform and opening-up, the province has 49 sister cities and 86 cooperation partners across the globe. The province has so far dispatched 21 cargo trains to Europe since the China Railway Express began operations in the province in February 2017. Since the State Council approved Shanxi as a national pilot zone for comprehensive economic transformation, it has embarked on a journey to build a “new Shanxi”.

By Liu Ge

(People’s Daily)