Prof. Manzoor believes it is very timely to discuss low carbon industrial development, as aggressive adoption of such technologies will be an essential prerequisite for the Belt and Road countries to collectively move closer to the more ambitious target of reducing the GHG emissions and containing the increase in temperature.
“Clean energy is critical for achieving sustainable development and is at the forefront of the global agenda. Technology plays a key role in promoting sustainability in many areas, including energy and sustainable industrial development. Therefore, a range of challenges in obtaining, adapting and effectively using industrial technologies and building productive capacity of the South in our region demands prompt solution”, said Prof. Dr. Manzoor Hussain Soomro, the President of Economic Cooperation Organization Science Foundation (ECOSF) while opening today the two-day 5th BTBU-ECOSF Joint Training Program on Pathways for Industrial Decarbonization in the Belt and Road Countries.
Prof. Manzoor believes it is very timely to discuss low carbon industrial development, as aggressive adoption of such technologies will be an essential prerequisite for the Belt and Road countries to collectively move closer to the more ambitious target of reducing the GHG emissions and containing the increase in temperature.
The impacts of climate change that are occurring with increasing severity and frequency are well aware. All nations are vulnerable, but generally, the developing countries are even more vulnerable and less resilient with limited resources for both mitigation and adaptation. Prof. Manzoor stated this situation calls for an urgent need for us to make more investments in technologies and processes to promote climate-smart solutions for our planet.
Successful transition towards low carbon development would heavily depend on fostering public-private partnerships that can accelerate deployment of technologies, promoting research and development, and human resource skills development. Prof. Manzoor added that the critical challenge for us is to enable delivery of our national development visions and goals through low-carbon, climate-resilient or climate-compatible development plans and strategies, whereby the role of science and technology is overarching and gigantic.
The president said that more such training would be very beneficial for the participants and go a long way to build major partnerships and linkages of the Belt and Road Countries and the ECO Member States, including Pakistan towards green growth technologies. “Green CPEC Alliance launched early this month is indeed a meaningful initiative that will improve the environmental conditions around the projects and initiatives. It’s a groundbreaking move for a sustainable growth in Pakistan.” he concluded.
On the occasion, Chinese industrial experts and scholars presented various innovative policies and practices on decarbonization technologies and strategies for the key industrial sectors, including cement, coal, cement, and steel in China. The experts also introduced cutting-edge technologies and successful cases of carbon reduction and emission reduction in “Belt and Road Initiative” key industries to promote exchanges and mutual learning among the Belt and Road countries and jointly meet challenges. Prof. Manzoor affirmed Chinese leading experts’ insights and the success stories and the elements behind the massive technological advances that China has achieved in achieving their climate targets. China announced in 2020 that it would achieve ‘carbon neutralization’ by 2060, making outstanding contributions to the international response to climate change.
The 5th training was co-hosted by Dr. Di Yuna, the Director of the BTBU-ECOSF Joint Center and moderated by Engr. Khalil Raza, Scientific Officer ECOSF who also serves as the Co-director of this BTBU-ECOSF Center. Over 100 participants from the Belt and Road countries participated in the training.
It is pertinent to mention that ECO Science Foundation (ECOSF) based in Islamabad Pakistan is a 10 countries Intergovernmental Organization promoting Science, Technology and Innovation and collaboration among the ECO member countries. The Foundation in 2020 joined hands with the Beijing Technology and Business University (BTBU) in Beijing China and established the BTBU-ECOSF Joint Training Center for cooperation and capacity building of human resource of ECO Region and beyond in the Belt and Road countries by winning a project funding from the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST). The BTBU-ECOSF Joint Training Center has earlier organized four training workshops on key developmental aspects including; Development and Management of Special Economic Zone, Digital Transformation, Smart Agriculture and Clean Energy etc.
The Center hopes to continue building the capacities of ECO Member Countries in key futuristic areas in future as well.