Thought Leadership

An innovative focus on the interface between two of China’s most pressing challenges – urbanisation growth and climate change impacts – can lead to effective solutions to help resolve both issues, and multilateral collaboration will be the key to success, explains the team behind this Strategic Research Theme of the Faculty.

As China’s development continues to gather pace, so too do the challenges facing the country, in particular urbanisation and climate change.  For the first time in history, the majority of Chinese people – estimated at 67% – now live in urban settlements.  The flow of the population from the countryside to cities is putting the country under increasing pressure on two fronts.  On the one hand, larger populations concentrated in cities mean higher energy consumption and more carbon emissions.  On the other hand, the speed and scale of climate change in the wider Asia-Pacific region is compounding the threats to China and the surrounding region’s environment, economy and society by making it more difficult to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and counter the impacts of climate change.  Bridging the gap to find solutions to both of these interconnected issues is the challenge being addressed by the Strategic Research Theme (SRT) Urbanisation, Sustainability & Governance, one of the four SRTs that the Faculty of Social Sciences (FoSS) has introduced to drive its research development and strategic directions.

China: Leading in both Fossil Fuels and Renewables

Since the beginning of this century, China’s CO2 emissions from fossil fuels have risen steadily, accounting for 31% of the global total in 2021, more than double the level of the next biggest single emitting country, the United States (14%).  In coal consumption as well, China leads the world, accounting for 54% of coal use globally in 2021, compared with 13% in India, the next biggest consumer.

On a per capita level, however, the US is the largest polluter, at 14.2 metric tonnes per person in 2021, almost double China’s 7.3 metric tonnes per person.  While China’s use of wind, solar and hydropower is increasing, coal consumption is increasing too.  In the northern part of China, which is the country’s coldest region, coal has long been entrenched as the main fuel source, as this is also the region where coal mining is concentrated.  China’s President Xi Jinping has committed to reaching carbon peaking by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060.

A New, Dual-Approach Strategy

Historically, the phenomena of population growth in China’s cities and the increasing impact of climate change have been investigated separately, but the connectedness of the issues indicates that the most effective response will be one that addresses both urbanisation trends and climate change mitigation. For example, while flooding in China’s seven biggest urban centres, which are home to more than 750 million peoples expected to increase by up to 19-fold by the year 2050, China’s cities are also increasingly considered promising sites for climate action for the very fact that their high densities and agglomeration economies are seen as well suited to technological innovation and behavioural change. This dual approach is at the heart of the ground-breaking strategy proposed by Professor George C.S. Lin, Chair Professor of Geography and Associate Dean (Research) of the Faculty of Social Sciences, and Professor Wai-Fung Lam, Professor of Politics and Public Administration and Director of the Centre for Civil Society and Governance, and their team in their SRT.

“Since climate change affects every aspect of our lives, addressing it requires joint efforts from all sectors of society,” the team writes in their SRT outline.  “Governments, the private sector, civil society, and individuals must collaborate to create systemic and lasting change.”

Building on FoSS Expertise

The team sees the Faculty of Social Sciences’ established expertise in the fields of urban governance and sustainability as a strong foundation for leadership, and it aims to enhance the Faculty’s reputation in these areas.

The SRT outline states: “The overarching goal and objectives are to develop this Faculty as a world leading centre of excellence in the research, training and education, knowledge exchange and transfer and community engagement in the area of urbanisation, sustainability and governance.”

From this base, the team will build upwards and outwards, encompassing local and regional expertise.

“We are going to identify successful pathways – local trajectories – of carbon emission reduction, or what we call sustainable urbanisation,” explains Professor Lin.

The collaboration network established by Professor Lin goes beyond academia to encompass government leaders, planners, practitioners, industry and business sectors, NGOs and ordinary people, as part of a wide-ranging information-sharing and networking ecosystem.

“I have mobilised a team – multidisciplinary, multi-institutional and international – for a proposed project of HK$75 million for five years, involving seven key cities and regions in China,” says Professor Lin.

The plan also reaches into the future pipeline of talent and aims to train a new generation of students and professionals in urban, sustainability and governance fields.

A Wide-Ranging and International Team

The team will harness blue-sky research as well as practical, policy-oriented knowledge creation to produce strong and effective impacts at the local, national and international levels.  Professor Lin plans to create blueprints for success based on proven pathways, including research outputs, the organisation of a public policy forum and a wide-ranging white paper on the subject of implementation and governance of nature-based solutions to building climate resilient societies.

The depth and breadth of input positions the SRT for success and Professor Lin is confident that the results will be impressive and impactful.

“We could make a significant difference,” he says.

Contributing writer: Liana Cafolla