China’s cities now account for more than half of the country’s energy use and are home to nearly half of the country’s population; that makes cities’ long-term sustainability critical to China’s climate change goal of peaking carbon pollution by 2030 or before, according to a new report.

“Climate Change and Urbanization: Challenges and Progress in China” was released yesterday by five international non-profit organizations at the COP 20 international climate conference in Lima, Peru and focuses on key urban land use, transportation and building efficiency solutions being implemented today in cities in China.

The report summarizes China’s low-carbon urbanization experiences, lessons and recent progress, and underscores the significance and potential contribution of China’s new urbanization to addressing global climate change. It introduces case studies of good practices in Chinese cities, and was drafted by the NRDC China Program with input from Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), Energy Foundation China (EF China), Institute for Sustainable Communities (ISC) and World Resources Institute (WRI).

Photo: Linfen, China, is dubbed the world's most polluted city