Euro-China GE: Dynamics of Green Growth in European and Chinese Cities (DRAGON)

We are an international consortium formed by six leading research institutes in the field of green economy. Our GOAL is to develop robust evidence on green growth in both EU and Chinese cities and to draw lessons to facilitate a transition towards sustainable development in EU and Chinese cities. Our team has brought strong and multi-disciplinary expertise into this project from aspects of urban development, environmental economics, economy-energy-environmental modelling, carbon accounting and policy analysis for technology transfers.
Green growth means shifting to a development model where environmental protection and economic growth complement each other, rather than being contradictory. Generating 85% of Europe's GDP, 80% of energy consumption and 75% of carbon emissions, cities have a central role to play in this process. European cities are striving for green growth. They are adapting local regulation and raising citizen awareness. Recently, the EU has launched the Europe 2020 strategy that sets out sustainable growth as one of its priorities, alongside smart and inclusive growth: 'making our production more resource efficient while boosting our competitiveness' . On the other hand, China will play a pivotal role in the fight against climate change given due to its immense size and need to develop. Shifting Chinese cities to a green growth path is a critical part of the fight. Chinese cities home 46% of the population and contribute 75% of the Chinese national economy and nearly 85% of CO2 emissions. The nexus between urban evolution and emission mitigation is the key in China's green growth. While the green-growth debate is becoming more prominent at the international level, understanding how to operationalise green-growth strategies is still lacking at more local levels. The key challenges remain:
Challenge 1: What are the dynamics of emission trends in Chinese cities at different urbanisation and industrialisation stages? Energy and greenhouse gases (GHGs) emission inventories are usually built at national level. But no such international framework exists requiring measurements of city emissions or providing detailed methodological guidance for conducting an urban emissions inventory. We will construct city level emission inventories.
Challenge 2: What factors are driving emission growth in cities? Quantification of emission driving forces has been extensively studies at the national level. Few studies have found at the city level. Understanding the key factors in driving the emission growth, one can target the problem more specific to reduce emissions in cities.
Challenge 3: What are the sources of green growth in cities and how can we support green growth? Green growth can open up new sources of growth through increasing resource efficiencies and economic productivities, supporting technology innovations, creation of new market, boosting business confidence in green growth and enhance economic stability. Institutional arrangements and economic incentives are the key to sustain the sources of growth in cities. New institutional arrangements will need to be established to guide the development of green growth strategies and to overcome the institutional inertia and silos that exist around economic and environmental policy making.
Challenge 4: How to use interventions to transform cities to green growth? Cities are the centre of transitioning towards green economy. Green growth is already underway in both European and Chinese cities. We identify available interventions for green growth and examine the effectiveness of those interventions.

Our GOAL in this research programme is to develop robust evidence on the scope for, the routes to and the potential limits of green growth strategies in both EU and Chinese cities, and to draw lessons and promote learning to facilitate a transition towards low carbon development in EU and Chinese cities. To secure relevance and enhance impact, the research programme will engage with key stakeholders from different levels (international, national, regional, local) and sectors (public, private and civic) at all stages in the lifecycle of the research. Our engagement, communications and impact strategies will be directly informed by 1) those of the ESRC Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy, a recent evaluation of which concluded that its performance in this area was outstanding; 2) Centre of Energy and Environment Policy Research, an excellent research powerhouse in the subject of sustainable development in China: 3) Sino-German programme on Low carbon city future led by Wuppertal Institute and advised by a global stakeholder committee; and 4) CIRED - an outstanding research think-tank in assisting environmental policy design and advise policy decision making in France and international organisation such as World Bank, OCED and UN.

To ensure maximum profile and impact, we will then structure our activities through three tiers of engagement. For those stakeholders that can become active partners in the research programme (tier 1 partners), we will develop close, formalised, sustained modes of engagement on programme steering committees. These partners will be involved in the meaningful co-production of knowledge, for example by helping us to refine and focus the research objectives, review and select appropriate cases, data sources and methods, review preliminary research findings and draw out the implications and aid the communication of these to different communities of policy and practice. For those stakeholders that have a clear interest in and are engaged in work that is directly relevant to the programme (tier 2 partners), we will develop an engagement plan that seeks to promote active dialogue on the programme, and that invites them to relevant events and workshops and that offers opportunities to engage in the research programme more directly if they want to. For those stakeholders with a broader interest in the findings of the programme, including the media, (tier 3 partners), we will develop clear lines of two-way communication to both inform them about and to hear their comments on the key research findings.

To implement our plan, we will develop bespoke engagement, communication and impact plans for each participating country (China, Germany, France, UK). We employ two dedicated impact ambassadors from both EU (Chu Xia, WI) and Chinese sides (Huanan Li, BIT) to coordinate such processes with support from project investigators and clerical administrator.

Our engagement and impact plans will be based on our already close working relationships with many of the actors and networks at different levels and different sectors. At the international level, members of the consortium already work closely with agencies such as the UN, the OECD, the World Bank, the IFC, ICLEI, the Global Green Growth Institute, The Climate and Development Knowledge Network, the C40 and R20 networks on issues relating to green growth in cities. At the national levels, in each participating country, we have close links with key government departments and development agencies, as well as with relevant private sector partners from related industries and with key NGOs and pressure groups. And at the local level, particularly in the case study cities in each of the participating countries, we have close links with city leaders and local government networks, with economic development agencies, with private sector consultants and service providers and with NGOs and community groups.