16From March 18 to 19, 2026, the Pearl River Delta session of the Zhenhua Green Transition and Sustainable Development Fund’s “Local Capacity Building for Climate Action” Exchange Seminar was successfully held in Guangzhou. The event was jointly organized by the National Center for Climate Change Strategy and International Cooperation (hereinafter referred to as the “National Climate Strategy Center”) and the Guangzhou Emissions Exchange, with guidance from the China Environmental Protection Foundation and the Green Innovation and Development Research Institute. About 50 participants attended, including representatives from local climate action partner organizations across China, officials from ecological and environmental authorities, experts and scholars in the carbon market field, representatives from low-carbon technology institutions, and key energy-consuming enterprises. Attendees included Xu Guang, Chairman of the China Environmental Protection Foundation; Wang Zhengang, Deputy Secretary-General of the China Environmental Protection Foundation; Ding Ding, Deputy Director of the National Climate Strategy Center; Hong Jianwu, Chief Engineer of the Guangdong Provincial Department of Ecology and Environment; Xiong Biyong, Deputy Director of the Guangzhou Municipal Ecology and Environment Bureau; Zhang Zhengming, Chairman of the Guangzhou Emissions Exchange; and Wang Yanhui, Deputy Director of the Green Innovation and Development Research Institute.
The seminar, themed “Release of the Local Climate Action Partner List and Exchange on How Carbon Markets Can Support China’s Dual Carbon Goals,” aimed to build a regional platform for climate action exchange through policy interpretation, experience sharing, and thematic discussions. By fostering coordination between central and local authorities and encouraging multi-stakeholder collaboration, the event sought to inject strong momentum into the implementation of local “dual carbon” goals. At the opening ceremony, Deputy Secretary-General Wang Zhengang congratulated the organizers and emphasized the importance of coordinated participation by social forces in climate governance and local capacity building for the dual carbon agenda. Deputy Director Ding Ding provided an in-depth interpretation of the overall progress of China’s national dual carbon strategy and elaborated on the key role of local governments as the “last mile” in the implementation of climate policy. Hong Jianwu, Chief Engineer of the Guangdong Provincial Department of Ecology and Environment, introduced Guangdong’s phased achievements in carbon market development, green transition, and coordinated governance. Zhang Zhengming, Chairman of the Guangzhou Emissions Exchange, stated that the exchange would rely on the local partner platform to strengthen capacity building.
As one of the first companies selected as a “Local Climate Action Partner,” Carbonstop was chosen alongside a number of authoritative institutions and industry representatives, including the Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tsinghua University’s Institute of Climate Change and Sustainable Development, the Shanghai Environment and Energy Exchange, the Guangzhou Emissions Exchange, and the Zhejiang Provincial Development & Planning Research Institute. This selection reflects Carbonstop’s professional capabilities and industry recognition in climate action and low-carbon services.
Following the opening ceremony, the event officially released the List of Local Climate Action Partners, which spans fields such as policy research, carbon market services, and low-carbon technologies, covering more than 20 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities nationwide. The initiative is intended to address challenges in local climate governance, such as the difficulty of replicating successful experiences and the challenges of cross-regional collaboration. During the partner-sharing session, five representative partner organizations—including Jiangmen Dual Carbon Laboratory, the Guangdong Low-Carbon Development Promotion Association, the Guangzhou Emissions Exchange, the Chongqing Renewable Energy Society, and Green Jiangnan Public Environmental Concern Center—shared innovative practices in areas such as technological R&D, standards development, capacity training, industrial emissions reduction, and government-business-society collaboration.
The afternoon session focused on carbon markets. Representatives from the National Climate Strategy Center, Guangdong University of Technology, the Shenzhen Municipal Ecology and Environment Bureau, and enterprises provided interpretations from policy, local, and corporate perspectives on topics such as the voluntary carbon market system, progress in Guangdong’s carbon market, Shenzhen’s carbon finance innovation, corporate digitalization for energy and carbon management, and zero-carbon factory practices. During the roundtable discussion, experts from the Guangzhou Emissions Exchange, the National Climate Strategy Center, Guangdong University of Technology, Tsinghua University, and China Resources Building Materials engaged in in-depth discussions on issues including carbon markets and industrial transformation, corporate carbon management, and coordination with carbon budgeting, putting forward constructive recommendations. At the end of the event, a call was launched for exemplary local climate change response cases, and outstanding cases will be included in the Collection of Outstanding Local Climate Action Cases for broader promotion.
During the field visit on March 19, participating representatives visited the Guangzhou Emissions Exchange, where they toured the global carbon trading market data hall and learned about the carbon allowance allocation mechanism, carbon trading procedures, and trading performance. They also received briefings on the operational results of the Guangdong carbon market, enterprise participation, innovative businesses such as carbon finance and carbon inclusiveness programs, and future planning. The delegation also visited the Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, where they conducted research on topics including energy strategy and low-carbon development, biomass system integration solutions, resource recycling systems, integrated wave-solar-wind-storage systems, theoretical and technical systems for efficient natural gas hydrate development, geothermal-solar integrated utilization systems, multi-state composite energy storage technologies, and MW-level multi-energy complementary microgrid systems for islands. They also learned about the institute’s historical development, major research achievements, and cooperation outcomes.
This event not only officially established the Pearl River Delta Local Climate Action Partner Platform and released the national list of local climate action partners, but also brought together diverse forces for climate action through in-depth exchanges and discussions. In the future, the platform will continue to carry out a series of regional capacity-building activities across the country, contributing continuously to China’s climate response efforts and the realization of its dual carbon goals.
