Peaking Emissions 8 Years Ahead of Schedule Wuhan, PRC

41%

GREEN COVERAGE RATE IN URBAN AREAs

Inhabitants 11.21 million

GdP per capita $20,960

Geographic area 8,569 km²

ThE ChAllENGE

As a large city, Wuhan has previously experienced an increase in the growth rate of urban carbon emissions.

CO-BENEFITs

social

The low-carbon transformation of the city will improve livability with more efficient public transport, green spaces, and improved infrastructure.

Environmental

The project will reduce coal consumption and emissions in Wuhan, with corresponding pollutants falling by 19% compared to 2015.

health

Reduced pollution will result in lesser deaths related to poor air quality by about 50,000.

WUhan, prC peaking emissions 8 Years ahead of schedule

The Wuhan Model looks across sectors to peak emissions in the megacity by 2022, 8 years ahead of the national target.

The so-called Wuhan Model targets the six areas of industry, energy, life, ecology, infrastructure, and demonstration for low-carbon developments and initiatives. Some highlights from the far-reaching model include low-carbon agriculture, priority to non-fossil energy, low-carbon transportation, greening of the city, and creating low-carbon demonstration projects to improve the reach of the project and scale it to other cities. It is the first carbon emissions peak action plan proposed at the city level in the PRC.

In 2018, the city was on course for emissions of 155 million tCO₂e, but following the initiatives across the different sectors, the city estimates to have reduced over 16 million tCO₂e. This has also benefited the city’s air quality, which has seen a 35% improvement compared with 2013.

As Wuhan and the PRC’s economies continue to grow, it is vital that they can decouple emissions from growth to help mitigate climate change. By 2022, the city aims to peak at 173 million tons, after which, it aims to decrease them toward 2030 and beyond.

Wuhan Carbon emissions peak action plan. The action plan is composed of six major projects and can be used as an example of successful low-carbon development for other cities in the PRC (photo by Fan Jianjun).