Qianhai becomes 10th member of China’s international eco-city exchange mechanism

Key highlights:

A quiet but meaningful expansion of China’s eco‑city network took place last week. Qianhai, the Shenzhen‑based pilot zone for financial and professional services cooperation with Hong Kong, has become the tenth member of the country’s International Eco‑city (Zone) Exchange Mechanism.

The mechanism was launched in April 2025. Its brief is broad but practical: to connect domestic and international markets, raise the profile of World Cities Day, and help Chinese construction standards and practices travel overseas more effectively. Last October, during the World Cities Day events in China, the group held its first international dialogue and published an inaugural annual report. The industry took notice.

The 2026 edition of that report is now underway. At a recent kick‑off meeting hosted by the National Academy of Mayors (an affiliate of the Ministry of Housing and Urban‑Rural Development), Qianhai was formally welcomed into the group. It received a membership certificate and was named a deputy convenor for the upcoming report – a role that gives it a hand in shaping the document's direction.

Other members in the network include familiar names in cross‑border urban development: Sino‑Singapore Tianjin Eco‑City, Sino‑French Wuhan Ecological Demonstration City, Fuzhou New Area Yuanhong Functional Zone, and Jiangsu Suzhou‑Sino‑Singapore‑Wuxi‑Tong Technology Industrial Park, among others.

For Qianhai, which has spent years weaving green space into its urban fabric, pushing for building decarbonisation, and nurturing low‑carbon industries, the move is a natural fit. The next step, according to the authority, is to build a zero‑carbon eco‑city – an ambitious target that will involve piloting international standards, reforming local green policies, and deepening cross‑border collaboration with Hong Kong and Macau on rules and institutional alignment.

Through the eco‑city network, Qianhai plans to distil its own experience into something replicable. The goal, as the authority puts it, is to offer a “green sample” that can be shared with other cities – inside and outside China – as APEC's host year unfolds.