The 2024 Macao International Environmental Co-operation Forum & Exhibition (2024MIECF) proceeded with its second day’s agenda today (29 March), with two “Green Forum” sessions held. Experts, scholars and industry professionals from home and abroad participated in these sessions and shared their revealing insights about key international environmental issues such as future urban green development and solutions to climate change, jointly exploring green development paths.
The “Green Forum Session 3: Creating a Blueprint for a Carbon Neutral City to Tackle Climate Change” in the morning was moderated by Kou Kun Pang, Associate Professor of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Macau, and attended by Cui Dandan, Associate Counsel of the International Cooperation Department, Ministry of Ecology and Environment of the People’s Republic of China; Xu Guangzhen, Director of the General Division, General Department, Ministry of Ecology and Environment of the People’s Republic of China; Liu Yang, Director of the Division of Strategic Research and Coordination, Department of Climate Change, Ministry of Ecology and Environment of the People’s Republic of China; José Carlos Pimenta Machado, Vice-President of the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA); Luo Zhaohui, Senior Engineer of the South China Institute of Environmental Science, Ministry of Ecology and Environment of the People’s Republic of China; Isabella Huang Loh, Chairman of the Singapore Environment Council; and Gary Grant, Technical Director of the Green Infrastructure Consultancy Ltd.
To better cope with climate change, peak carbon emissions and achieve carbon neutrality, the speakers explored the pathway to create and implement the blueprint for a carbon neutral city in their respective professional fields and advocated collective responsibility for green development, aiming to achieve sustainable development of the society.
Of the speakers, Cui Dandan, in her keynote speech on “Towards a Green and Low-carbon Urban Future, in Synergy with a High-quality Belt and Road Co-operation”, noted that a global consensus has been reached with respect to green and low-carbon development, and provided a new perspective and solution for countries along the route of the Belt and Road Initiative. She suggested leveraging the MIECF platform to strengthen exchanges and forge consensus, bridge green and low-carbon industries and technologies, and achieve demonstration effects while generating practical outcomes.
Later, Xu Guangzhen delivered a keynote speech on “Deepening Co-operation Between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao in Ecological and Environmental Protection to Build a World-class and Beautiful Greater Bay Area”. He acknowledged Macao’s achievements in air quality, urban greening and ecology, and proposed to promote the alignment of rules and mechanisms within the Greater Bay Area and strengthen the region’s leadership role to jointly build a beautiful Greater Bay Area.
Afterwards, other speakers delivered their speeches on topics such as “Observing Urban Green and Low-carbon Development from the National Pilot Low-carbon City”, “Portugal’s Green Cities: Lisbon & Guimarães - Carbon Neutrality Examples for Climate Action”, “Spatiotemporal Variability of Carbon Neutrality and Response Strategies in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area”, “Pivoting Public, Private and People (3P) Transition to a Low Carbon Future”, and “Adapting to Climate Change in the Built Environment using Blue & Green Infrastructure (Nature-based Solutions)”.
Simultaneous interpretation services are available on-site to facilitate in-depth interaction and communication among the participants from home and abroad. In addition, this year, the Green Forum continues to seek accreditation and certificates of attendance will be issued to the participants, with the aim of effectively leveraging the MIECF’s role as a professional knowledge exchange platform.
