BUILDING A GREENER FUTURE

Urban planning in Shanghai's Hongqiao CBD puts sustainability front and center

Editor's note: China Daily is publishing a series illustrating the country's efforts to achieve its carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals.

Sprawling out on the periphery of Shanghai's Hongqiao airport and railway station looms a vast structure resembling a gigantic lotus leaf from above. This megastructure, the National Exhibition and Convention Center, is one of the world's largest single-block buildings, spanning 1.55 million square meters. The truly remarkable thing about this building is that no carbon emissions are produced in its operation during the China International Import Expo.

The NECC is the annual home for the CIIE, an event that attracts numerous exhibitors, buyers and exhibitors from across the country and around the world.