Rapid urbanization and economic growth have greatly impacted the environment in cities. To reduce harmful emissions, China should focus more on building low-carbon eco-cities, said experts at a press conference on Thursday for the upcoming World Economic and Environmental Conference.

China's most recent census showed that almost half of the people in mainland China – or 666 million – live in cities, up from 36 percent in 2000. And that number is expected to continue to rise.

"That is to say, in the near future, most Chinese will live in cities," said Edward Clarence-Smith, representative of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in China. "Low-carbon development will hence be the very solution to win the future."

Industries, because they are integral to cities, must be a key partner with city administrations, and energy-efficient industries are a prerequisite for a low-carbon city, he said.

And because industries are producers, they have "a huge role in making sure that those products, when they are used, are used the most efficiently," he said, adding that consumers must account for the products' overall environmental footprint from production to use to waste.

Clarence-Smith also said cities must produce renewable energy, which unlike traditional energy, has production dispersed among many locations throughout the region. "A city has to be built or designed in a way that its structure itself or the city in some way is generating energy," he said.

Richard Liu, a senior green building expert of the Natural Resources Defense Council, echoed these views, saying that Chinese cities are striving for industrial energy efficiency, green buildings and renewable energy.

But smart growth and urban development has been overlooked, "particularly, efficient land planning, good urban form design and sustainable a transportation system," Liu said.

NRDC teamed up with the U.S. Green Building Council and the Congress for the New Urbanism in 2009 to create the first comprehensive system for defining, measuring and certifying smart growth. It is called LEED-ND, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Neighborhood Development.

"Principles in the LEED-ND system are critical and useful for Chinese communities, but China should not just simply follow the system," Liu said, adding that NRDC is looking for a Chinese partner. "We want to help the Chinese partner to develop China's own commonly-accepted green community standard."

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