Whole society to help ensure low-carbon Olympics

It might seem like an unusual way to support the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games.

After a hectic day at work, 45-year-old Li Junsheng sorted and disposed of office waste and used his own shopping bag to buy vegetables at a grocery store. Then he took a casual stroll home.

Li said his routine not only helped him unwind, it also was a meaningful way to support a low-carbon campaign for the upcoming Games.

The Games' organizing committee has vowed to achieve carbon neutrality through renewable energy and carbon offsets. Measures have included building low-carbon stadiums, using eco-friendly power to run them, setting up a flexible direct-current power grid to ensure the stability of clean power generation and promoting green transportation and heating.

The organizing committee also set up ways to compensate for unavoidable carbon emissions, an important step in achieving carbon neutrality during the Games.

Beijing municipal government began a new round in its campaign to encourage planting trees to offset carbon emissions during the Games. According to a plan released by the Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform, a total of 10,000 hectares of trees would be planted by the year's end.

This round of planting, inaugurated in 2018 in Beijing, aims to increase forests by 62,533 hectares, wetlands by 2,400 hectares and grasslands by 1,733 hectares by the end of 2022.

As of January, the city has completed the planting of 46,267 hectares of forests.

Zhangjiakou in Hebei province, co-host of the Games, also stepped up efforts to plant trees and improve the local environment to offset carbon emissions. It has planted 758,667 hectares of trees from 2017 to 2020 and set up eight national-level wetland parks.

In addition to growing trees to lock up carbon from the atmosphere, the Games' organizing committee also called for participation of involved companies to donate their allowances of carbon emissions traded in the carbon market to Games-related projects. It also has worked to attract entities to take part in its low-carbon campaign.

The Games' organizing committee set up a WeChat mini app allowing users to record their carbon footprint to encourage more people to lead a low-carbon lifestyle and contribute to the Games' carbon offset.

"Each time I sort garbage, I get 36 points on the mini app," Li said. "For every 1,000 steps I walk, I get 20 points. I can also get points from using reusable shopping bags and water bottles, taking public transportation and other things. The points can be exchanged for gifts on the mini app," Li said.

Li said he has been recording his low-carbon lifestyle on the mini app for about two weeks. "I heard about the mini app from a close friend and I've been recommending it to family members and colleagues. It's become an interesting part of our lives."

Lin Boqiang, head of the China Institute for Studies in Energy Policy at Xiamen University in Fujian province, said voices had been raised criticizing the Olympics for causing environmental damage by building venues, consuming lots of fuel for power, heating and ice-making, and increasing long-distance transportation.

However, Lin said, "China's moves to offset carbon emissions, together with methods to provide green energy, sent a strong signal to the world that China is committed to the mission of hosting a greener international sporting event, and dedicating itself to achieving carbon neutrality and sustainable development."

"By involving the population in contributing to carbon-offset moves, the Games' organizing committee has been successful in making more people aware of the importance of environmental protection and encouraging them to lead a low-carbon lifestyle," he added.