Tianmu News:

I noticed a paragraph on page 27 in the white paper that says, "China actively facilitates the digital industry and industry digitalization and calls for joint efforts to coordinate the transformation towards digitalization and green growth." Please share with us China's specific considerations in this regard. Thank you.

Cao Shumin:

Thank you for your question. Mr. Wang Song will answer it.

Wang Song:

Thank you for your interest in digitalization and green growth. The report to the 20th CPC National Congress proposed "moving faster to boost China's strength in cyberspace and digital development" and called for "accelerating the transition to a model of green development, boosting green and low-carbon industries, and promoting green and low-carbon ways of production and life."

At present, digitalization and green growth are not only important themes for global development but also twins that are interdependent and mutually reinforcing. For one thing, the energy consumption of the digital industry is growing rapidly. For example, the total power consumption of data centers in China currently accounts for about 1.5% of the country's total, posing an urgent need for green transformation and development. For another thing, digital technology has played an increasingly prominent role in driving the green transition of traditional industries. It is predicted that by 2030, various industries can cut 12.1 billion tons of carbon emissions by dint of digital technology.

In recent years, China has organized and implemented the action plan on coordinated transformation towards digitalization and green growth, whose main tasks include three respects. The first is to promote the green and low-carbon development of the digital industry. The second is to accelerate the green transformation of traditional industries enabled by digital technology. The third is to leverage the role of green transition of industries in driving the digital industry. Eighteen key actions have been deployed centering on the tasks in the above-mentioned three respects.

With the joint efforts of various departments and regions, preliminary progress has been made to coordinate transformation towards digitalization and green growth. For example, the current energy consumption per 5G base station has declined by more than 20% compared with that for initial commercial use in 2019, and the average power usage efficiency (PUE) of planned data centers above large scale nationwide has dropped below 1.3. Large domestic digital technology companies have responded to calls nationwide and have taken the lead in formulating low-carbon development plans.

Next, we will further promote the action plan on coordinated transformation towards digitalization and green growth and focus on the following three tasks. The first is to organize and conduct comprehensive pilot programs in this regard and encourage regions with suitable conditions to carry out pilot trials. The second is to promote typical cases and experiences of digital technology enterprises in coordinating transformation towards digitalization and green growth and let these enterprises play an exemplary role. The third is to strengthen relevant international cooperation and promote the expansion of exchanges and sharing of experience under bilateral and multilateral cooperation mechanisms. Thank you.