On September 24, 2021, with the support of Vanke Foundation and the assistance of China Zero Waste Network, Rock Environment and Energy Institute successfully held the workshop ‘From Project Re－engineering to Carbon Emission Accounting: Opportunities for Social Organizations in Solid Waste Management to Cope with the Climate Crisis’. This event is a continuation of the online live event held on August 11，2021. Under the project ‘From Concept to Methodology: Helping Social Organizations in Municipal Solid Waste Management to Participate in the Implementation of Carbon Neutrality Strategy’, it is held to support social organizations integrating climate policies into project design, and mastering the method of estimating carbon emissions from solid waste.

Picture 1: Liu Yuan's speech

In line with the concept of openness and integration, the workshop invited 17 social organizations and many other foundations, enterprises and individuals. The workshop included four main components: expert sharing, partners' project introductions and experts commenting, round table discussion, and application of the carbon emission calculation tool. REEI also collected feedback questionnaire after the event, some partners mentioned that they had learnt how to calculate carbon emissions from different waste treatments methods, while others hoped it would possible to calculate under a specific scenario next time.

The workshop was hosted by Erin Pan, project manager of REEI. First, Liu Yuan, project director of Vanke Foundation, Tian Fade, president of Beijing Shunyi Association for Science and Technology and Lin Jiaqiao, co-director of REEI addressed the workshop.

Picture 2: Tian Fade's speech

Liu Yuan addressed "Social organizations and enterprises should combine their work with the goal of ‘Carbon Peak’ and ‘Carbon Neutrality’, which is not only a concept but more importantly about practice". President Tian pointed out that "The workshop on solid waste management and climate change is a good attempt to combine with the current theme of national environmental development". Representing REEI, Lin Jiaqiao thanked all the participants and introduced the development and attempts of REEI in the field of solid waste.

Picture 3: Moda Share

During expert panel presentations, Lin Jiaqiao shared the significance of waste GHG emission reduction paths proposed by major economies around the world, in the context of ‘Carbon Neutrality’ and ‘Net Zero Emission Target’, and the speech was titled Waste GHG Emission Paths Inventory: Solid Waste Management under China’s ‘Carbon Peak’ and ‘Carbon Neutrality’ targets. Dr. Mao Da, director of Shenzhen Zero Waste, also shared his views on the "Prioritization Principles for Solid Waste Management—from Carbon Emission Reduction Side". Later, Zhao Ang, co-director of REEI, analyzed the carbon emission reduction effect of distributed kitchen waste composting, taking the case of collaboration with Qingdao You & Me Social Work Center as an example. He mentioned "Participants may use the carbon emission accounting tool to measure and verify the reduction effect, in order to satisfy the needs of climate impact assessment".

Picture 4: Xu Min shared

In the next session, participant organizations introduced their projects, Xu Min from Qingdao You & Me Social Work Center, took the lead in sharing her thoughts while practicing in frontline community, by referring to the case Zhao mentioned before.Subsequently, representatives of the other 16 partner agencies were divided into three groups for project presentations, The various topics added many highlights to the workshop. Mao Da, Zhao Ang and Lin Jiaqiao, a three-member expert group commented on each institution’s sharing.

Picture 5: Gao Yijian participated in the round table to ask questions

In the roundtable discussion, based on the content shared in the morning, all participants gave positive feedback, some raised questions while some shared their views, which made the discussion substantial. The topics discussed included end-treatment emission reduction, incineration subsidies, technological development, classification awareness and so on. The question ‘Can the fertilizer with high-oil and high-salt in kitchen waste compost return to the soil?’, raised by Chen Yanping from Hangzhou Timing Technology Co. Ltd, attracted wide discussion and reply from other organizations.

Picture 6: Zhang Jingning participated in the round table to ask questions

Next was the key component of the workshop, with the support of the carbon emission accounting tool developed by IGES, Lin Jiaqiao and Yuan Yating from REEI explained its logistic and how to apply it in the field of solid waste management. All participants were assigned to five groups. Each group independently applied the tool as practice, using the data from cities in Jiangxi province and Guangdong province, and shared the results.

Picture 7: Teams collaborate to use tools to calculate carbon emissions

The success of this workshop cannot be achieved without the active participation of each institution, while the realization of the ‘dual carbon’ depends on every individual’s effort to reduce emission. Hopefully each participant can have a deeper understanding of the integration of project development and climate change through this workshop.

Last but not least, we would like to thank all the participants, especially those who actively shared their experience. These organizations are as follows,Qingdao You & Me Social Work Center (Xu Min), Guangzhou New Life Environment Protection Promotion Association (Gao Yijian), Water drop environmental protection center (Qin Guosen), Foodthink (Feng Qihua), Flower Fairy Public welfare Community Service Center (Liu Ying), Jiangxi River Watcher (Zhang Lingli), Zhengzhou Environmental Conservation Association (Yang Xiaojing), Kunshan Lvcheng Environment Protection Volunteer Organization (Wu Yong), Mianyang Eco-environmental  Protection Association (Dong Lanxin), Green gables NGO (Cheng Yanfei), Jiangxi Ecological Environmental Protection Public Welfare Development Center (Rao Lihua), IFINE Environmental (Jerry Song), Plastic Free China (Yang Qiping), Friends of Nature (Wang Xinyi), Wuhu Ecology Center (Zhang Jingning), Greenpeace (Eric Liu), Shenzhen Zhicheng Social Work Services Center (Wang Yuanyuan).(on the order of presentations)

Picture  8: Cheng Yanfei shared

Content sharing (PDF content in Chinese):

毛达：固废管理优先次序原则.pdf

赵昂：磐之石与青岛你我的合作案例.pdf

林佳乔：固废碳中和路径.pdf

Project sponsor: Vanke Foundation is a national non-public foundation initiated by Vanke Enterprise Co., Ltd. and approved by the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the State Council. It was established in 2008 and is in charge of the Ministry of Civil Affairs. In 2017, it was recognized as a charitable organization. Since 2018, under the new five-year strategic planning framework, the Vanke Charity Foundation has been focusing on issues that have far-reaching impact on the future with the concept of “face to the future and dare to be the first”. With the goal of "sustainable communities", the foundation promotes the realization of a harmonious relationship between man and society, and between man and nature. The foundation currently focuses on the four major business areas of community waste management, green environmental protection, community development and special support.