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January 2010

Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City:

A Case Study in China

China’s Urbanization Trends

Source: McKinsey & Company, 2009

Project Urban Population by 2025 64%

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China’s Urban Environmental Challenges

• Land– China to generate over 65,000 km2 or

16% of total new build area in

developing world

• Water – 400 of China’s 660 cities are water

short; water quality under stress

• Energy– Urban areas consume more than 3x

the amount of energy than rural areas

• Transport– Car ownership to increase by 50 million

vehicles by 2020

• Climate Change

Mitigation– China is largest emitter of GHG

emissions

– Cities account for 80% of GHG

emissions

Adaptation– Nine of top twenty cities in terms of

greatest % increases in exposed

assets are in China

―Local‖ ―Global‖

Cities Central In Addressing China’s Environmental Challenges

Why Look into “Eco-Cities”?

• Urban Program in China traditionally focused on sectoral

solutions

Majority of Urban Projects are Water Supply and Sanitation

Sector Focused, with some Solid Waste

• Explored opportunities to work more cross-sectorally in the

urban space

• Looked into Chinese eco-cities—as one possible entry point

into the agenda

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China’s Emerging “Eco-Cities”

China’s “Eco-Cities”: Strengths and Weaknesses

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China one of the few countries that sets eco-city development targets

Local level ―entrepreneurial‖ drive to develop eco-cities

Eco-city targets serve as useful incentive tool

International Partnerships, incl. from Private Sector, and Collaboration

Eco-City Standards set by MEP and MoHURD need improvement

Focus is on construction

related indicators, such as

―green area‖ and ―infrastructure

service coverage‖

Some high profile eco-city

failures, e.g., Dongtan and

Huangbiayu

Risk of ―eco-branding‖ the

agenda

Strengths Weaknesses

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Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City—A Case Study

- Located in Tianjin Municipality• One of China’s four centrally administered municipalities

• Specific location Binhai New Area

- Tianjin/ Binhai growing and urbanization fast• Growth ~ 20% since 1994

• 3.5m new people by 2020, of which 1.6m in Binhai

- Selection of wasteland to develop an urban area

• Developed over three phases up to 2020

• 350 thousand inhabitants target

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Sino-Singapore Partnership Project• Political project with Prime minister endorsement

- Strong upfront involvement of private sector

Project objective to develop an “economically sustainable, socially harmonious, environmentally friendly and resource conserving city” one that is “a model eco and low carbon city”

SSTEC’s Key Performance Indicators

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):

– KPI 5: Carbon Emissions 150 tons/million US$ GDP

– KPI 7: Proportion of Green Buildings – 100%

– KPI 12: Proportion of Green Trips – 90%

– KPI 19: Renewable Energy Use – 20%

– KPI 20: Water Supply from Non-Conventional Sources – 50%

– KPI 13: Solid Waste Recycling Rate - 60%

Indicators, if achieved, would indeed point to greater

environmental sustainability

But realism?

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GEF Project (US$ 6 million)

Objective: Provide further advice in helping the eco-city to become a

resource efficient and low carbon emission city

Component (1): Overall Advisory on Project Implementation (TA)

• Policy, Regulation and Institutional Framework

• Financing Mechanisms

• Monitoring

Component (2): Public Transport (TA)

• Public Transport Plan

Component (3): Green/ Energy Efficient Building (TA and Investment)

• Green Building Standard (TA)

• School/ Low Income Housing (Investments)

Urban and Transport Planning of SSTEC

• SSTEC Master Plan Transit Oriented Development Mixed land use plan Walkable community High population density Energy Efficient Building Affordable housing

• Master Plan is already adopted

→ GEF project helps building Implementation Framework and Capacity

→ Provide TA, software and equipment for implementation framework for the SSTEC Master Plan and GEF project management.

Component 1 and 2:

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Challenges and Opportunities

• Delayed Metro extension→ Incremental development of public transport needed

• Urban Design: 400m x 400m block, wide streets

→ GEF project : helps develop an integrated public transport system such as Bus Rapid Transit until Metro is extended to the area

KPI: Proportion of Green Trips: 90% - achievable?

Other Challenges and Opportunities

• ‘ New Town’ development … • Social inclusion is considered• Focused industry: service, high-

tech, environmental industries• Investors (including foreign) are

already involved

• Phased development (3 phases)→Lessons learned at each phase and good practices could be

reflected in next phase development for better integrated

development

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Energy Sector Overview

• Overall energy strategy

– Prioritizes renewable energy as an important supplement to conventional energy sources.

– Enhance energy efficiency by applying new energy, green building, and green transport technologies.

• Projected energy use patterns

– Majority of the economy by 2020 will be service industry and light manufacturing.

– 80% of energy demand is expected from buildings and the rest from industry and transportation.

• Key performance indicators in the energy sector

– Proportion of green buildings: 100%

– Share of renewable energy in energy supply: 20%

Green Buildings

• SSTEC Green Building Evaluation Standard (GBES)

– Six categories that cover the life cycle of the building (land conservation & outdoor environment, energy conservation, water conservation, material conservation, indoor environment quality, operation and management)

– Intended to be more stringent than the national GBES, but still largely refer to various national and local building standards and regulations.

• Green building strategy in the GEF project

– Through the pilot investment projects to demonstrate GBES implementation procedures and replicable energy efficiency technologies and practices and through TA to make the GBES as complete as possible and as effective as possible in promoting energy conservation across SSTEC.

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Green Building-TA Component

• Enhance the existing GBES

• Design, define, and

document a clear and robust

process by which the GBES

can be applied and

managed.

• Design a site-wide tariff

policy that is compatible

with the overall financial

model and encourages

energy conservation.

• Monitor and evaluate the

performance of two pilot

green buildings.

• Design incentive schemes.

Assess

international

best practice

Gap analysis Assess current

status and needs for

specific areas

identified

Existing GBES Documents

Consultation

with

stakeholders

Pilot projectsReview GBES

guidelines

FeedbackFeedback

Green Building-Investment Component

• Two pilots:

– Public housing project (residential building): a total floor area of 37,000 m2 for 569

apartments with estimated US$39.83million investment cost.

– High school project (public building): a total floor area of 35,000 m2, hosting 1,620

students with estimated US$24 million investment costs.

• Incremental investment on energy/water efficiency and renewable energy

technologies that exceed the minimum requirements of GBES.

Public Housing High School

Electricity saving (kWh) 1,367,000 52,300

Natural gas saving (kWh) 1,201,000 72,700

CO2 reductions (tonne) 1,110 499

Percentage of overall

energy saving

42% 43%

Estimated Energy Savings and CO2 Reductions from Incremental Investment