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This report is jointly completed by the World Resources Institute and the Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment. It constructs an indicator evaluation system from the perspective of low-carbon production, low-carbon consumption, low-carbon environment, and low-carbon progress. We innovatively select 15 typical indicators such as low-carbon information index and carbon productivity, and carry out the low-carbon development evaluation of 102 cities around the world. The evaluation of low-carbon city development was carried out under a unified standard. The weighting of the indicators is based on a combination of "subjective" and "objective" approaches, to ensure the authority and science of the indicator weights. Meanwhile, in order to further explore the low-carbon development direction and path of different types of cities, cities are classified into different categories, based on the Köppen Climate Classification and the industrial structure and international status of the cities to facilitate better comparative analysis and provide reference for the low-carbon development of Chinese cities.

Key Findings:

  1. This study constructs an indicator evaluation system containing four areas—low-carbon production, low-carbon consumption, low-carbon environment, and low-carbon progress—to evaluate the low-carbon development of 102 cities around the world.
  2. The evaluation results show that the overall performance of low-carbon development in Chinese cities has improved. Of the 102 cities studied, the top three were in China, and Shenzhen ranked first.
  3. Megacities should promote green, low-carbon, and high-quality development from three aspects: low-carbon development planning, optimization of internal industrial structure, and adjustment of energy structure.
  4. Service-oriented cities should formulate climate action plans according to local conditions, and develop suitable low-carbon economic models, to actively promote high-quality and low-carbon development.
  5. Industrial cities can use digital means to improve the greening degree of the “two high” industries, increase intellectual investment, and promote the transformation of green industries.
  6. Agriculture-oriented cities can integrate the advantages of rural resources, optimize the structure of the primary industry, and vigorously develop the tertiary industry to promote low-carbon development.

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