About half of the initiatives in this sample involve partnerships, which exist in different constellations and perform different functions. Linkages created through partnerships allow for technology, information and funding to pass across sectors, government levels and borders. The details of these mechanisms are discussed in this section.
7.2.1 Form of climate partnerships
This sample of initiatives suggests that partnerships in urban climate action is common in China. Almost half of the initiatives (74 initiatives, accounting for 48% of the sample) involve collaboration between actors, as shown by Table 19. As the sample of this study was selected to represent cities that are forerunners in climate action and likely to have used innovative governance arrangements, this share is probably higher than in smaller, “average” urban regions.
Table 19: Form of collaboration in selected climate initiatives
Actors involved in initiative Number of initiatives (%)
City Authority 59 (39%)
Company + International/foreign organization(s) 31 (21%)
Company 17 (11%)
City authority + International/foreign organization(s) 13 (9%) City authority + Company 9 (6%) City authority + Local Academia/NGO 6 (4%) Local Academia/NGO + International/foreign organization(s) 5 (4%) Company + Local Academia/NGO 5 (3%) City authority + National/provincial authority 2 (1%) International/foreign organization(s) 2 (1%) International/foreign organization(s) + National/provincial authority 1 (1%)
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As shown by Table 19, the largest share of initiatives (59 projects, accounting for 39%), is led only by city authorities. Most initiatives involving only municipal authorities have a regulatory or administrative nature. As was discussed above, many projects initiated by public actors aim towards enforcement of higher level planning guidelines. Examples of schemes that typically do not require input by other actors include green construction schemes (e.g. adoption of targets or implementation guidelines) and zoning regulations.
17 initiatives (11%) are initiated and managed by a single company. There are a couple of different types of project in this category. The majority is large scale renewable energy projects, all of which are led by large SOEs. Most of these firms are owned by municipal or provincial governments and have extensive operations in the region. The second largest number of initiatives are energy efficiency retrofits of the type carried out under the 10’000 Enterprises Program. Many of these are also carried out by large public or private firms with internal research departments and sufficient economic and technical capacity to upgrade equipment without input from external organizations.
The most common form of collaboration, used in 31 initiatives (21%), is between companies and foreign/international organizations. The foreign organization is in most cases a foreign company and in some cases an international NGO. Two types of relationship are common. The most frequent is import of technology from a foreign to a Chinese company. According to the theoretical discussion in Chapter 2, private-private interaction does not fall under the definition of a partnership, as it does not involve cross-sector collaboration (Glasbergen et al, 2007; Huijstee et al, 2007). However, it is an important mechanism for introducing emission reduction technologies and has been referred to in terms of partnerships in previous research on climate networks (Bulkeley et al, 2012). The second most common relationship is between Chinese companies and foreign companies or research organizations, where the foreign organization participates in the role of planner or project designer.
The second most common form of collaboration, found in 13 initiatives (9%), is partnerships between city authorities and foreign/international organizations. The majority of these initiatives are led by municipal authorities in cooperation with foreign partners that provide some type of knowledge transfer. The partnerships are formed with foreign firms, international organizations, bilateral partners and foreign authorities. The partnerships take the form of traditional development assistance projects, joint ventures, jointly managed projects or loosely structured dialogues.
Nine initiatives (6%) involve partnerships between city authorities and companies. In many of these projects, technology or infrastructure has been delivered by a company in order to implement a project initiated or planned by a municipal authority. There are also a couple of cases where a partnership with a company is formed in order to mobilize funding for project implementation.
Six initiatives (4%) involve partnerships between city authorities and academic organizations, five (3%) between companies and academic institutions, and five (3%) between academic and foreign/international organizations. In most of these cases, the academic or foreign organizations provide expert knowledge for the purpose of technology development or planning design.
7.2.2 Function of climate partnerships
The functions of the partnerships in this sample include rule setting, provision of public service, technology transfer or development, and information sharing/demonstration. This section discusses how different partnership constellations are related to function of initiatives, and how responsibilities are shared between actors.
Rule setting initiatives
The analysis of the results presented in Table 16 (section 7.1) suggests that municipal authorities are the leading actor in all projects involving adoption of plans and regulations.
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Through analysis of partnership arrangements, a somewhat different picture emerges. Out of the 74 initiatives involving collaboration, six have some form of rule setting function. These are not binding regulations and requirements, but rather emission reduction targets and low carbon transport plans. The partnerships are created for the purpose of obtaining planning advice, often of a technical nature, from foreign organizations, domestic academia or higher level government institutes (the initiatives are listed in Table 22 in Annex B).
Two of the partnerships in this category were formed to create emission reduction plans in the industrial sector. In one case, Wuxi Municipality built on the Sino-German cooperation platform Low Carbon Future Cities to connect with the municipality of Dusseldorf. Through city-to-city collaboration, involving dialogue between a number of foreign and domestic authorities and research organizations, Wuxi formulated emission reduction strategies for its industrial sector. In another case, the city of Qingdao formed a partnership with WRI (an international NGO) and the Asian Development Bank to create a low carbon development plan. In both cases, the foreign partner contributed technical advice and suggestions based on international best practice.
The other four partnerships are initiatives in the transport sector. They have a similar nature and involve collaboration in formulation of low carbon development plans. One of these was created through Kunming’s EcoPartnership with the American city of Portland. Through this partnership, Kunming has received advice on how to shape a non-motorized transport plan to reduce the emission profile of the transport sector. The cities of Baoding and Shenyang partnered with central and provincial level institutes to access technical advice for their low carbon transport plans. In the last initiative, a transit-oriented (TOD) plan in Kunming was developed by a domestic research institute (Kunming Planning and Design Institute and Kunming Urban Transport Institute) in cooperation with foreign design firms.
Service and infrastructure provision
Out of the 74 initiatives involving collaboration, 11 (15%) have the function of service or infrastructure provision. In this group of partnerships, collaborative arrangements are diverse in nature, including PPPs, JVs and BOTs, cooperation agreements, and partnerships for the purpose of mobilizing funding (these initiatives are listed in Table 23 in Annex B).
Three of these initiatives are projects in the energy sector. In these projects, the municipal authorities in Kunming, Baoding and Xiamen formed partnerships with SOEs to provide two solar plants and a solar-powered BRT station. Baoding Municipality has provided a solar plant by forming a PPP with four energy companies, where the firms were in charge of development and delivery of technology and infrastructure. In the delivery of the solar plant in Kunming, the municipality signed a cooperation agreement with a firm to deliver equipment and technology development.
Three partnerships are projects in the transport sector. This includes Qingdao’s low carbon transport plan, which was formulated by the municipal transport bureau. In order to provide infrastructure for electric vehicles and LNG filling stations, the municipality formed a partnership with the State Grid. Beijing’s low carbon transport system was initiated and promoted by Beijing EPB as a way to allow the public to buy carbon credits. The scheme was jointly managed by two municipal SOEs in charge of public transport. The last example from the transport sector is the project “Shenzhen New Vehicle”, in which Shenzhen Municipality introduced a financial leasing model for the purchase of electric buses. The municipality cooperated with financial group Potevio Group (an SOE), who stands as guarantor for the loans. Shenzhen Municipality reached a similar financing agreement with the Southern Power Group (another SOE) in the installation of EV charging stations.
Infrastructure provision in the transport sector also involves partnerships between municipalities and domestic academia. In the delivery of Kunming’s low carbon transport system, the municipal authorities was responsible for providing the BRT system, but Kunming
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Municipal Engineering Design Institute was in charge of drafting the plan. A “low carbon transport hub” in Shanghai is managed by Shanghai DRC, but Shanghai Urban Construction Design Institute provided technical and planning advice in layout and technical design. Finally, there are three infrastructure projects in the energy sector provided by SOEs in partnerships with foreign firms. One example is a district heating and cooling scheme in Chongqing, which is a BOT scheme, designed, built and initially operated by a foreign company. The project was financed by a loan from IFC. Two further projects with mixed ownership (a JV and a BOTs), involved partnerships with foreign companies with the purpose of providing renewable energy infrastructure.
Technology transfer
This sample of climate initiatives shows that technology transfers is a common reason for actors in Chinese cities to create linkages with foreign organizations. Out of the 72 initiatives involving collaboration, 16 initiatives (22%) have the function of technology transfer (these projects are listed in Table 24 in Annex B).
Technology transfers in the form of purchase of foreign technology involves limited interaction between actors. Twelve of the initiatives in this sample consisted of purchase of technology from foreign firms. It is questionable whether this type of connection should be thought of as partnerships, although in some cases the foreign company is actively involved in developing and applying the technology, as well as providing training.
Five infrastructure projects owned by domestic firms received technological advice as well as funding from international organizations in connection with technology transfers. One example is a low carbon district in Qingdao, owned and managed by a municipal company, which received technical assistance and funding from ADB. The other four are CDM projects, operated according to similar arrangements. Three waste-to-energy projects are managed by domestic firms in cooperation with a foreign firm, receiving funding through the UNFCCC. The fourth example is an MRT project in Guiyang, managed by a municipal SOE and a foreign firm, funded through the CDM mechanism.
Technology development
This sample of initiatives suggest that forming partnerships for the purpose of developing emission reduction and energy saving technology is common. Out of 72 initiatives involving collaboration, 16 initiatives (22%) had the function of technology development. Partnerships for technology development take two main forms: research projects or establishment of R&D platforms (these projects are listed in Table 25 in Annex B).
There are two examples of municipal authorities forming partnerships with domestic academic organizations for the purpose of technology development. In these projects, the municipal authorities take on a supporting role, while the academic organization is responsible for technology development. This was the case in development of tidal energy led by China Ocean University in Qingdao and residential solar thermal electricity generation in households in Shenyang. In a couple of initiatives, municipal authorities have formed partnerships with companies to establish technology development platforms. In one of these, Guangzhou Municipality and ZTE established an energy conservation technology incubator involving “substantive collaborative” projects in energy conservation industries (GZZSW, 2014). There are five examples of companies forming partnerships with academic organizations to develop emission reduction technology. This includes joint research projects and joint establishment of research center. An example of the former is development of CCS technology in Chongqing, led by an SOE in cooperation with local academia. Another is a solar thermal power in Beijing, constructed in cooperation between several SOEs and domestic research institutes. Another example is a CCS-development project owned by a mixture of domestic SOEs and foreign firms, funded by ADB and China Ministry of Science and Technology. An example of the latter is an industrial park for new recycling technologies in Qingdao, led by an
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SOE in partnership with various academic institutes. Another SOE has set up a recycling economy zone with support of MEP and the German Development Cooperation (GIZ). Partnerships have also been formed between domestic and foreign academic organizations for the purpose of technology development. This includes a low carbon technology development set up by Guangdong Low Carbon Technology and Industry Research Center (GDLRC) and University of Edinburgh with support from the Consulate General of the UK in Guangzhou. Another research partnership is set up between the Chinese National Energy Administration and several companies from the Netherlands to develop tidal power technology.
Finally, three partnerships are formed to mobilize funding for technology development. One is a PE fund for energy saving set up by Wuxi Municipality, with the Agricultural Bank of China and Guolian Finance Group acting as strategic investors. This fund is used by local firms to fund investments into development of energy conservation equipment. Two research projects are owned by local SOEs and funded by international organizations. The first involves energy efficiency improvement of power plants in Chongqing, financed by IFC (a member of the World Bank Group), distributed by Chongqing Bank and managed by a domestic contracting firm specialized in energy technology. The second is funding for energy efficiency improvements in Wuxi provided through the China Energy Efficiency Financing (CHEEF) Program, provided by the World Bank through the Global Environment Facility, and distributed locally through three Chinese Banks.
Information dissemination and demonstration
Out of the initiatives involving collaboration, 23 initiatives (32%), had the purpose of spreading information or demonstrating new solutions. This accounts for almost one third of initiatives involving collaboration, making it the most common function of partnerships. Many initiatives in this category are large scale demonstration projects involving a variety of actors, taking the form of eco-city projects, landscaping or construction schemes. These projects are used to test and demonstrate emission reduction and energy saving technologies, designs, and planning practices (these projects are listed in Table 26 in Annex A).
In this category, there are eleven municipal led initiatives where a foreign organization or domestic academia provided advice related to technology, design, or planning. This includes four eco-city projects carried out through different constellations of domestic and foreign actors. Two have mixed ownership structures, one of which is the Sino-Singaporean eco-city project in Tianjin (SSTEC), described in the introduction of this chapter. The second is the Sino-Singapore Guangzhou Knowledge City (SSGKC), also managed by a publicly owned consortium. A long list of MoUs is part of the cooperation agreement, which involve actors from the private sector and academia in both countries. Similar to the eco-city projects, three initiatives related to land use involved partnerships between municipal planning bureaus and foreign and domestic firms and academia. An example is the design of a network of green infrastructure in Guangzhou, a waterfront area in Tianjin, and redevelopment of a brownfield area in Shenyang.
There are eight examples of projects where foreign firms and/or foreign or domestic academia have participated in company led partnerships as designer, planner and/or technical advisor. These consist of two construction projects and five eco-city projects. An example is a “neofuturistic” skyscraper in Guangzhou, designed by two foreign architect firms to be the most energy-efficient “super-tall” building in the world. An eco-city project in Qingdao is owned by a large domestic SOE, and the master planning has been done by a foreign design firm. There are two examples of domestic academia leading the planning of similar eco-city and landscaping projects in Kunming. In both these cases, China Sustainable Transportation Center partnered with local planning organizations and foreign design firm to create low carbon spatial plans.
Only three initiatives in this sample explicitly aim towards capacity building (understood here as staff training and development of new policy toolkits). Notably, all three involved
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collaboration with international organizations. For example, a project led in partnership between Shanghai Municipality and the World Bank provided technical assistance to develop emission reduction policies in the built environment. An initiative with the aim of capacity building run in cooperation between Guangzhou Municipality and the British Consulate- General in Chongqing provided training in the development of low carbon toolkits. Finally, Beijing Transportation Research Centre formed a partnership with the German Development Agency GIZ to develop a toolkit for transport demand management (TDM).