Baoting, Hainan Launches "China-EU Zero-Carbon County Cooperation Initiative" to Mark 10th Anniversary of Paris Agreement

BAOTING, China, Oct. 21, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement, China officially announced its new Nationally Determined Contribution (NDCs) and launched the "AI+" International Cooperation Initiative, integrating the digital–green twin transition into the vision of a shared future. Coinciding with this, the International Conference "From Commitment to Implementation: Hainan's Actions in the COP Process" was successfully held on 20 October in Baoting, Hainan, China, jointly organized by the People's Government of Baoting Li and Miao Autonomous County, the Chinese Society for Sustainable Development, and the Ningyuan Institute of Climate and Sustainable Development (Hainan). Over one hundred representatives from international organizations, Chinese and European governments, research institutes, and enterprises attended the event, to jointly explore how local governments can play a pivotal role in implementing NDC.

Baoting: A County-Level Test Field for China's NDC

As the only county-level entity in China included in the China–EU Green and Digital Innovation Cooperation Zone, Baoting leverages the Hainan Free Trade Port's policies of zero tariffs, low tax rates, and a simplified tax regime, as well as facilitated cross-border data flows, to create unique advantages for international cooperation and green-digital transformation. Positioned within what will become the world's largest free trade port, Baoting has already established a solid foundation for advancing green and digital transition.

Baoting's core practices in zero-carbon transition include:

• Promote electrification, energy efficiency retrofits, and integrated energy services across key sectors, including industry, building, transportation and tourism, to cut carbon intensity;
• Strengthen rainforest and river-valley carbon sinks to balance reduction and sequestration;
• Build a "carbon account + carbon budget" platform aligned with global standards;
• Pilot mutual recognition with the EU CBAM to offer compliant, low-cost supply chain solutions.

Global Climate Leaders Speak Highly of the "Baoting Solution"

• Xie Zhenhua, China's First Special Envoy for Climate Change Affairs, pointed out that under the framework of China's new round of NDCs and the Joint EU-China Press Statement on Climate, Baoting's practical cooperation with European partners is not only a key measure to advance its own sustainable development and the goals of building Hainan Free Trade Port and a zero-carbon island, but also a contribution of the "Baoting Solution" to the global vision of zero-carbon development through the implementation of concrete projects.
• Laurence Tubiana, COP30 Special Envoy to Europe and CEO of the European Climate Foundation, emphasized that achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement must rely on strong local action. She commended Baoting as an inspiring example, recognizing the project's value in fostering multi-stakeholder collaboration across government, academia, industry, and European partners, and noted that Hainan's experience could serve as a model for other island economies..

At the roundtable session "Shaping a New Paradigm for Global Future Cities and Climate Governance," Beate Trankmann, Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in China, joined Cai Yaoze, Mayor of Baoting; Ji Weidong, Professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Co-Chair of the United Nations University Global AI Network; Peter Ling-Vannerus, Chief Representative of SEB Beijing; Cong Ronggang, Professor at Beijing Institute of Technology; Gary Zhao, General Manager of BRE China; and Duncan Yu, General Manager for Asia at Withings. Together, they engaged in an in-depth discussion on five "Commitment-to-Action" pathways—Indicators, Finance, Technology, Governance, and Scenarios—exploring how to translate global climate ambition into city-level solutions that are quantifiable, financeable, implementable, governable, and experienceable.

"AI+" Empowering China–EU Climate Cooperation

The conference emphasized the key role of artificial intelligence in climate governance. "AI+" solutions, exemplified by the "Zidong Taichu" large -scale AI model, are being widely applied in fields such as county-level governance, proactive health, digital economy, and green finance.

Flagship projects introduced at the conference include:

• Promote intelligent building design across the full life cycle to foster green, healthy, and smart living environments;
• Integrate medical-grade wearable devices into communities, workplaces, and hospitals, creating an end-to-end pathway from technology validation to commercial application that supports European digital health enterprises entering the Chinese market.

" 3+7+4" Flagship Projects Build a China–EU Green and Digital Innovation Ecosystem

A "European Partners Acceleration Camp" at the conference saw the signing of the "3+7+4" flagship projects:

• 3 Top-Level Mechanism Projects: Establishing a replicable "Ocean–Island Zero-Carbon Resilience" development model and a comprehensive toolbox for policy, standards, law, finance, and knowledge-sharing.
• 7 International Industry Projects: Focusing on digital therapeutics, green and low-carbon building and community standards, all-age smart health communities, integrated green energy systems, and AI-enabled carbon and building management, co-developing leading international standards and demonstration projects with European partners.
• 4 Flagship Pilot Projects: Advancing cross-border healthcare, negative-carbon wellness, natural therapy, and proactive-health technologies to build global standard-setting infrastructure.

European cities and institutions are invited to join the second batch of partners. (Link: https://gdip.cgsda.org/)

Action Roadmap: From Vision to Implementation

Li Meng, Chairman of the Chinese Society for Sustainable Development and Former Vice Minister of Ministry of Science and Technology of China, outlined four priorities-- mutual recognition of standards, legal frameworks, financial innovation, and ethical safeguards for AI climate applications, and further outlined Baoting Innovation Zone's key action plan for the coming year , which include:

• launching the Hainan Proactive Health Science Infrastructure and Clinical Research Translation Platform project,
• developing and deploying the Baoting Carbon Management Digital Platform 2.0,
• introducing the China–EU 1.5°C Healthy Community Certification Label, and
• releasing the Baoting Green Digital Innovation Index.

Expert Insights

• Mu Kerui, Party Secretary of Baoting Li and Miao Autonomous County, Hainan Province, shared innovative explorations and pilot practices in developing urban climate resilience models of Baoting for marine and island regions from the perspective of urban governance and sustainable development.
• Qiao Jie, Member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Executive Vice President of Peking University, introduced the impact of climate change on reproductive and child health, explained the important application of AI-enabled full-life-cycle health promotion in the context of global climate change, and proposed that the practice of the Baoting Innovation Zone will help create a new paradigm for full-life-cycle proactive health management.
• Yuan Feng, Vice Dean of the College of Architecture and Urban Planning at Tongji University, starting from the relationship between "emission reduction and health", put forward the concept of "design thinking + proactive health" architectural intelligent agents, helping Baoting build a global demonstration of proactive health and climate healing.
• Jonas Törnblom, Founding Chair of the Sweden–China Green-Tech Alliance and Co-Director of the China–Europe Innovation Center for Sustainable Development (CEIC), said CEIC will advance mutual recognition of carbon standards, digital twins, green finance, blue economy, and low-carbon healthcare.
• Xu Bo, Director of the Institute of Automation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, demonstrated the broad application scenarios of the "Zidong Taichu" multimodal large model in county-level governance, with "AI+" providing an engine for zero-carbon Baoting.
• Peng Yiting, Chairman of Asia Allied Infrastructure Holdings, emphasized principle of "planning first and standards-led development," calling for a dual drive of digital and green transformation to build Baoting into both an "innovation factory" and a "showcase hall" for green technologies.
• Tang Hua, Director General of the Hainan Bureau of International Economic Development, highlighted that Hainan's modern "4+5+3+2" industrial system will create broad opportunities for international cooperation.
• Erik Berglof, Chief Economist of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), advocates for public-private collaborative investment in natural infrastructure, addresses climate change through the linkage of "climate-nature-human health", and expresses recognition for Baoting's integrated solutions based on natural assets.

Two Closed-Door Meetings Launch Working Groups for Key Areas:

• Mutual Recognition of Carbon Standards: A Neutral and Inclusive Paradigm for AI Urban Governance, launched the Asia Regional Working Group on Carbon Standard Mutual Recognition.
• Sustainable Legal Mechanisms for Oceanic and Island Regions, established the Island Climate Legal Research Working Group.

Conclusion

Ten years ago, the Paris Agreement enshrined a shared pledge-- to limit global warming to within 1.5°C. Today, a decade on, Baoting in Hainan answers that call through its new NDC commitment and the momentum of the Hainan Free Trade Port's 2025 customs closure, extending to global partners an invitation to co-build zero-carbon counties. It is a call to turn commitments into action, let technology take root, and transform green dividends into tangible real benefits for the peoples of China and Europe.

See you in Baoting. See you in Europe. See you at COP30.

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