The Greater Manchester-Tianjin Green & Low-Carbon Session was hosted by the British Embassy Beijing, the Foreign Affairs Office of Tianjin, and the Manchester China Forum on March 13, both online and on-site.

The two cities have seen fruitful results in exchanges and cooperation in the fields of new energy and education since they established a city relationship in 2019.

The Foreign Affairs Office of Tianjin and the Manchester China Forum have played important roles in promoting high-level, multidimensional cooperation between the two cities.

The Tianjin Graphene Engineering Innovation Center has settled in Binhai New Area, and several Tianjin universities, such as Tianjin University and Nankai University, have actively carried out academic exchanges between teachers and students with the University of Manchester and the University of Salford.

Tianjin is currently implementing 10 actions in a bid to build a socialist modern metropolis, in which low-carbon and green development is included.

Luan Jianzhang, director-general of the Tianjin Foreign Affairs Office, said the event is a pragmatic cooperation action between the two cities, and will play an important role in helping tackle climate change.

John Edwards, Business and Trade Commissioner to China, said “Efforts to deepen cooperation and mutual understanding in areas focused on building back better & greener and bringing the global community together to tackle shared global challenges must be accelerated post-COVID.”

Greater Manchester has the goal to reach carbon neutrality by 2038, making it one of the most aggressive targets for a city-region in Europe.

Tianjin plays an important role in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region in reducing carbon emissions. The two cities will have a lot of cooperation opportunities for mutual benefit, he added.

Tianjin aims to peak carbon emissions by 2030. At present, the city has achieved a series of achievements in industrial transformation, using clean energy and resource conservation. More results on green and low carbon development are expected through deepening exchanges and cooperation with Greater Manchester.