China - Low Carbon City Program

Overview & Synopsis

The Program Development Objective (PDO) of the Low Carbon City Program for China is to reduce GHG emissions and scale up low carbon urban development in Shijiazhuang. Shijiazhuang government program on low carbon urban development builds upon several recently released policies and plans. The primary anchor of the Program is Shijiazhuang’s “1+N” climate framework for GHG (greenhouse gases) reduction. The overarching “1” plan refers to Shijiazhuang’s Carbon Peaking and Neutrality Implementation Plan issued in July 2022, which provides the vision and principles for carbon peaking and neutrality. The “N” plan for the Program is Shijiazhuang Urban-Rural Construction Carbon Peaking Implementation Plan (Urban Sector Plan), released on December 2023, that details the main actions for reducing GHG emissions in the urban sector. In addition, the government program is supported by the city’s Territorial Spatial Plan (2021-2035) and by several sectoral plans, primarily the Green Building Sectoral Plan and the Urban Renewal Development Plan. 20. With a strong policy framework to support the low carbon transition in place, Shijiazhuang is looking to increase its implementation capacity to meet its emission reduction targets. A program for results (PforR) has been identified as the most suitable instrument to support the city’s broader program with targeted interventions to improve its design and implementation, foster coordination amongst stakeholders around critical Program results, and strengthening institutions and building capacity. The PforR will focus on a subset of the government program activities by linking the disbursement of funds to the achievement of results aiming at increased efficiency, effectiveness, and impact. By promoting low-carbon planning and hardwiring low carbon principles into urban designs city wide, the PforR seeks to have a lasting temporal impact beyond Program closure after 2030. The Program will also provide access to international best practices for developing low-carbon plans, standards, and processes to improve the implementation and monitoring of Shijiazhuang low-carbon initiatives. Access to global practices to allow Shijiazhuang to learn from peer cities and showcase its own innovations, was a main driver for the city’s interest in Bank support