Copenhagen and Beijing Engage in Close Collaboration on Sustainable Development

27 September 2012

The memorandum is the first result of the Sister City Agreement between the two capitals, signed in Beijing in June.

Great potential in partnership

”It is a great honor for Copenhagen to welcome Vice Mayor Chen Gang so soon after our two cities became Sister Cities,” states Frank Jensen. “There is a great potential in collaboration on planning and construction.”

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Copenhagen: A reference point for urban sustainable experiences

”Copenhagen is a city of great importance in Northern Europe and served as the most developed region in Denmark in terms of commerce, emerging manufactural industry, service industry, and foreign trade. Recently, Copenhagen has made magnificent progress in practising the idea of urban sustainable development and accumulated plenty of experiences,” says Chen Gang.

Strengthening cooperation and communication

”The two cities have boasted enormous potentiality to cooperate in sustainable city planning and construction. By signing the MoU, it will give rise to strong impetus for both sides to carry out practical communication and cooperation in relevant areas, from which citizens of repective city will surely benefit,” says Chen Gang.

Sharing innovative solutions

The collaboration between the two cities will involve Danish and Chinese enterprises.

“While we in Copenhagen can make good use of the innovative, Chinese technology, for instance electric busses, Copenhagen has shown good results in integrated planning, where we combine the way the individual building is constructed with the energy supply and the infrastructure for transport. It’s good for the environment, for the economy and for the quality of life,” says the Lord Mayor of Copenhagen.

”Beijing is served as the Chinese political and cultural centre as well as the hub for international exchanges. The city has been built over 3000 years and served as the country’s capital over 850 years. Meanwhile, Beijing is also a world-renowned historical city with splendid culture and an extraordinary Olympic city. In recent years, Beijing has been ernstly committed to industrial reconstructuring and transformation of economic development mode, striving hard to realise sustainable development of the city,” says the Beijing Vice Mayor.

Companies are already taking lead

Next year, a number of electric busses from China will be tested in the Copenhagen public transport system. The Chinese supplier has cleverly solved the problem of storing enough energy for a full-length bus, giving a gain not only for the quality of air and noise, but also for the climate.

And a restructuration of the heating system in Niujie community in Beijing, carried out by the Danish company Danfoss, resulted in a significant increase on temperature, saving 31.2% of the electric power as well as 13.1% of the heat energy.

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A chairman at Deputy Director General Level from each city will be responsible for a working group that will meet at least once a year to advance dialogue and cooperation and involve enterprises from both sides.

Source: Copenhagen Municipality

Further information: Press Officer, City of Copenhagen, Mrs. Rikke Houkjær, [email protected], +45 2677 2295