(Character of the two sessions) Wang Yanxin, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference: Suggesting that colleges and universities promote the construction of carbon-neutral campuses
China News Service, Wuhan, March 4th (Reporter Zhang Qin) "Colleges and universities are the main source of carbon emissions in the field of education, and they are also the best scene for 'double carbon' innovation." Wang Yanxin, president of China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), said in an interview that colleges and universities should be vigorously promoted to build carbon-neutral campuses and cultivate innovative carbon-neutral talents.
Photo by Wang Yanxin, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and Zhang Qin
Wang Yanxin said that colleges and universities shoulder the dual mission of providing scientific and technological support and talent guarantee for the realization of the "dual-carbon" goal. They should organize scientific research forces to overcome the "dual-carbon" scientific and technological problems, and integrate the "dual-carbon" knowledge and concepts into the professional curriculum system. It is also necessary to comprehensively promote the construction of carbon neutrality on campus, and turn the campus into a carbon neutral living laboratory where teachers and students jointly carry out scientific research and development, technology incubation, and collaborative education.
According to the calculation of the "Double Carbon" research group of the School of Economics and Management of China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), the carbon emission in China's education sector in 2017 was as high as 246 million tons.
Compared with primary and secondary schools, colleges and universities undertake more complex scientific research and education functions. The average annual electricity consumption generally exceeds 10 million kWh, and there is also a large amount of oil and gas consumption. The carbon emission is more than that of many above-scale industrial enterprises.
"Innovation is the fundamental way to achieve the 'dual carbon' goal." Wang Yanxin said that colleges and universities are innovative highlands, and there are also typical scenarios of energy conservation and carbon reduction in urban communities.
Taking energy conservation and carbon reduction in the operation and management of colleges and universities as the problem orientation, encouraging teachers, students and enterprises to innovate collaboratively will greatly promote the incubation, application and promotion of "dual carbon" innovation, and play a role as a demonstration window.
Wang Yanxin believes that by building carbon-neutral colleges and universities, increasing new energy, energy conservation, intelligent management and other measures, it will not only save a lot of school-running expenses, but also promote the achievement of the regional "dual-carbon" goal.
At the same time, building an interdisciplinary team of teachers and students for the practical problems of campus carbon neutrality, and carrying out practice in the form of campus carbon neutrality living laboratories, will help to integrate the carbon neutrality concept into the talent training system.
Wang Yanxin suggested to formulate a carbon peak and carbon neutrality action plan for college campuses, encourage colleges and universities, governments, NGOs, enterprises and communities to build development alliances around the theme of "double carbon", and establish a campus carbon neutrality evaluation system. Let colleges and universities publish carbon emission information and carbon management performance, and accept social supervision.
It is reported that in July 2021, the Ministry of Education of China issued the "Carbon Neutral Science and Technology Innovation Plan for Colleges and Universities" to promote the key layout of colleges and universities in the field of carbon neutrality.
Previously, China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) has taken the lead in launching the "carbon peak, carbon neutral" planning preparation among colleges and universities across the country, and has cooperated with enterprises to establish a carbon neutral industrial technology innovation center.
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