China, facing rapid industrialization and urbanization, tackles SDGs with major clean energy projects like the Fujian Offshore Wind Turbine, offering global solutions.

China, the second-most populous country in the world, is a case study of the challenges and opportunities involved in achieving UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Rapid industrialization, coupled with dramatic growth in population and per capita income and mass migration from rural areas to cities, are all factors that have forced the country to acknowledge the challenges it’s imposing on global resources. But within these same variables lie potential solutions, and China has been especially aggressive in its pursuit of clean energy projects. Many of these initiatives are among the largest and best in class globally, representing technological advances that can be adapted and replicated elsewhere.

Let’s look at the projects transforming China that are helping elevate our world.

CETROVO 1.0 Carbon Star Express Metro Train  For modernizing rail travel and minimizing carbon emissions  UN SDG: 9, Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure  China

While train ridership is declining in China, rail travel remains an important mode of transportation in the large, geographically dispersed country. Because trains, like cars, also emit carbon dioxide and require an energy source to run, reducing the carbon load of trains and decreasing their overall energy burden is essential.

The CETROVO 1.0 Carbon Star Express Metro Train, inaugurated in 2024 after a prototype was built and presented at the InnoTrans trade fair in 2018, does just this, thanks to the novel use of carbon fiber in the train’s body and chassis frames as well as in load-bearing structures of train carriages. Carbon fiber is incredibly strong, but it is also light. These characteristics have reduced the train’s weight by 11 percent, in turn, creating a seven percent reduction in electricity use that reduces the transit system’s overall carbon footprint.

To further its impact, CRRC, the manufacturer, developed the SmartCare maintenance platform, which is expected to make servicing the train easier and more cost-efficient, resulting in a 22 percent savings in maintenance and a diversion of saved funds to other infrastructure projects.

10-year Yangtze River Fishing Ban Initiative  For prioritizing long-term marine health  UN SDG: 14, Life Below Water  China

Around the world, freshwater and saltwater species are subject to a number of threats, including overfishing and the effects of the climate crisis — and, in China, depletion in fish is a significant problem. Stock management is a crucial intervention, and the 10-year Yangtze River Fishing Ban Initiative, implemented by the federal government’s State Council in 2021, is one of China’s efforts to prevent the decline of species.

The Yangtze River, one of the most biodiverse rivers in the world, houses nearly 400 species of fish and 145 amphibian species, and the 10-year fishing ban provides an opportunity to restore and protect the Yangtze's unique aquatic populations, including the Yangtze finless porpoise. The ban also protects life on land and in the air, including the many bird species that use the river as a stopover site on their migratory routes, depending upon its fish as a source of food.

In 2022 and 2023, the project entered a new phase, one in which the focus was trained on enforcement of the ban and supporting fishermen affected by it. According to the news outlet People’s Daily, 144,000 law enforcement personnel and 11,000 ships were deployed to the river each month, and in 2022 alone, they investigated 18,525 potential ban violation cases.

Overfishing is being addressed through strict fisheries management measures; at the same time, government agencies are implementing interventions to ensure stability for people who rely upon fishing as their livelihood. Already, the Chinese government has invested $3.79 billion USD to support more than 230,000 fishermen with financial support and job training and placement. As a result, reports of illegal fishing have decreased by 20 percent.

Investments into research and development will yield important findings about aquaculture and environmental monitoring technology, the results of which can be shared and applied across many jurisdictions, both in China and beyond it. To date, more than 700 monitoring stations have been set up along the length of the river to provide continuous water quality assessment.

16 Megawatt Fujian Offshore Wind Turbine  For going big on wind as a renewable power source  UN SDG: 7, Affordable and Clean Energy  China

Due to its large population, China has massive energy needs and corresponding consumption rates — one of the reasons why they go big on solutions that focus on renewable energy sources.

The country inaugurated a 16-megawatt offshore wind turbine in the Fujian province in July 2023 — the only wind turbine in the world capable of operating at that capacity. The turbine’s specifications are impressive: a hub that’s 52-stories tall; the world’s longest impeller diameter spanning 252 meters; and blades that are 123 meters long and 54 tons in weight, with a sweeping capacity that’s the size of seven football fields. Unsurprisingly, it’s also equipped with smart technology that can capture big data and adjust the turbine’s operations in response to weather conditions.

More impressive than the technical specs, though, is the turbine’s generative capacity. Experts project that the turbine will produce approximately 360 million kilowatt-hours of electricity each year, which represents a savings of about 103,800 tons of coal and a reduction of about 283,800 tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually. This production level is enough to meet the energy needs of 36,000 Chinese families each year, easing energy burdens in a country where income, population, and power demand are all growing.