The 28th Annual Meeting of the China Association for Science and Technology recently held a series of thematic symposia in Beijing, focusing on critical areas including "Ecosystem Restoration and Carbon Sink Enhancement," "Carbon Peak and Carbon Neutrality," "Breakthroughs in Common Technologies for Pollution and Carbon Reduction," "Waste Resource Utilization and Eco-Materials Frontier for Dual Carbon Goals," "Resilient Cities and Low-Carbon Transition: Collaborative Pathways and Systemic Governance," and "Green Finance and Carbon Market Mechanism Innovation."

Carbon Sink Enhancement

The symposium on "Ecosystem Restoration and Carbon Sink Enhancement," organized by the China Association of Remote Sensing Application, convened experts and scholars for in-depth exchanges. Discussions spanned from fundamental theoretical innovation to the integration of industry, academia, research, and application, as well as the promotion of typical case studies, using a diverse format combining keynote reports, thematic seminars, and roundtable discussions. The keynote session showcased the latest achievements in theoretical exploration and practical frontiers, highlighting that ecological governance is shifting from single-engineering restoration to systematic, coordinated management and nature-based solutions. It emphasized that ecological, climate, and resource-environment issues must be studied within a framework of multi-sphere coupling, multi-scale linkage, and human activity coordination. Managing non-CO2 greenhouse gases was identified as a critical shortfall in current carbon neutrality pathways. Additionally, ecological remote sensing technology is expanding from traditional government monitoring scenarios to new applications including environmental asset management and green finance innovation. Thematic seminars shared the latest research on ecosystem processes and regional carbon sink enhancement and ecological restoration across different forest, grassland, wetland, and desert ecosystems. Roundtable discussions consolidated key consensus on ecological restoration and carbon sink enhancement.

Dual Carbon Discussion

The symposium on "Carbon Peak and Carbon Neutrality," organized by the Chinese Society of Mineralogy, Petrology and Geochemistry, gathered experts in Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS), low-carbon development of oil, gas, and coal resources, and geochemistry and carbon cycling. In-depth discussions focused on the "dual carbon" goals, covering scientific issues related to the carbon cycle, carbon sources, and carbon sinks. Expert reports included topics such as "Progress and Prospects of CCUS-EOR Industry in China," "Advances and Reflections on CO2 Geological Utilization and Storage Technology in Oil and Gas Fields," "Microbial Carbon Sink Function: Carbon Reduction Based on Natural Processes," "From Fuel Coal to Resource Coal: Strategic Value and Green Development of Critical Metals in Coal Series under the Dual Carbon Goal," and "CCS/CCUS-Related Experience and Technology Progress." Additional presentations covered themes like ecological coal mining, carbon capture technology, carbon storage source-sink matching, numerical simulation applications, and carbon emission and reduction pathways. In a non-consensus agenda session, experts debated CCUS emission reduction potential, large-scale deployment prospects, and development strategies for key carbon neutrality technologies like CCUS. A Young Scientist session featured recent research outcomes on deep coalbed methane accumulation mechanisms, CO2 storage safety in coal measures, in-situ conversion of oil-rich coal, fracture propagation mechanisms, low-energy carbon capture technology, carbonate rock storage, and coal storage applications in Xinjiang.

Pollution and Carbon Reduction

The symposium on "Breakthroughs in Common Technologies for Pollution and Carbon Reduction," organized by the China Textile Engineering Society, conducted in-depth discussions on key issues including the green transformation of the entire textile chain, resource recovery of textile wastewater, recycling of waste textiles, management of emerging pollutants, and digital low-carbon technologies. This platform fostered collaborative innovation across industry, academia, research, and application, offering suggestions for the high-end, green, and intelligent upgrading of the textile industry. Leading experts proposed three strategic approaches: promoting coordinated governance for pollution and carbon reduction, building a collaborative innovation platform for the entire textile industry chain, and exploring disruptive technological pathways through interdisciplinary research. The expert report session featured keynote presentations on "Cleaner Production and Pollution & Carbon Reduction" and "Pollution & Carbon Reduction Dyeing Technology," along with talks on "Design of Single-Atom Environmental Catalytic Materials," "Low-Carbon Emission Reduction Technology for Dyeing Wastewater and Resource Utilization of Inorganic Salts," "Ecological Risk Assessment and Control of the Dyeing Industry in Ecologically Sensitive Areas," and "Application of Electrochemical Technology in High-Salinity Wastewater Treatment." Two interactive sessions were held: a non-consensus discussion on industrial pathways for synergistic pollution and carbon reduction technologies, and a Young Scientist roundtable on breakthroughs in common technologies for pollution and carbon reduction.

Dual Carbon Goals

The symposium on "Waste Resource Utilization and Eco-Materials Frontier for Dual Carbon Goals," organized by the Chinese Crystallographic Society and the Shandong Power Battery Recycling and Utilization Association, conducted academic discussions on key directions including high-value utilization of bulk solid waste, CO2 mineralization and carbon fixation, power battery recycling, and ecological improvement materials. Keynote reports covered topics such as sorting the current status of gasification slag resource utilization and proposing breakthrough directions like graded cascade utilization and multi-industry collaboration; research progress on converting chlorinated waste plastics into energy storage carbon materials via novel dechlorination methods; and a technical pathway coupling synchronous extraction of valuable metals with hydrothermal synthesis. Experts also shared cutting-edge findings on gasification slag resource utilization, PVC waste plastic-derived energy storage carbon materials, metal recovery from lithium battery black mass, mineralization-based saline-alkali land improvement, CO2 mineralization and carbon fixation using solid waste, and photoelectric coupling catalytic detection. A non-consensus discussion featured in-depth debates among experts on four major industry controversies: environmental safety of agricultural application of industrial solid waste, divergence in the catalytic mechanism of the oxygen evolution reaction, potential environmental risks of solid waste-based ecological materials, and the economic feasibility of CO2 mineralization and carbon fixation technology. Focusing on the technology development roadmap for solid waste resource utilization during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, cross-disciplinary experts from industry, academia, and research assessed that areas like power battery recycling, low-carbon cementitious materials from bulk solid waste, mineralization-based carbonation backfilling, and saline-alkali land improvement materials are expected to achieve large-scale implementation first.

Low-Carbon Transition

The symposium on "Resilient Cities and Low-Carbon Transition: Collaborative Pathways and Systemic Governance," organized by the Ecological Society of China, brought together over 100 experts from urban ecology and interdisciplinary fields. Focusing on the pressures and challenges facing urban development in the context of climate change, the symposium aimed to explore the deep integration and collaborative pathways of "resilient city construction" and "low-carbon transition." The academic report session featured a keynote presentation on "Paradigm Shift in Scientific Research for a Beautiful China," along with thematic reports on "Resilient City Construction: Scale Selection and Considerations," "Transformation of Urban Planning and Governance Paradigms in the AI Era," "Modeling and Application Research on Urban Waterlogging," "Resilience and Modeling of Coastal Urban Ecosystems from a Landscape Pattern Perspective," "Urban Resilience and Construction of Resilient City Clusters," "Carbon Sequestration and Energy Efficiency of Urban Green Infrastructure," and "Assessment of Hong Kong's Carbon Neutrality Pathway." Experts also engaged in discussions on four sub-topics: 'Basic Data and Background Monitoring,' 'Core Theories and Key Methods,' 'Scientific Challenges and Research Hotspots,' and 'Chinese Practices and Case Experiences.'

Carbon Market Innovation

The symposium on "Green Finance and Carbon Market Mechanism Innovation," organized by the China Association for Standardization, brought together experts and scholars for in-depth discussions on carbon market mechanisms, green finance standards, ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) information disclosure, and technology empowerment. The keynote report session focused on the effectiveness and internationalization pathways of carbon market mechanisms, pointing out the need for multiple measures to enhance market vitality and internationalization levels. It also addressed green finance standard systems and product innovation, systematically interpreting Chinese and international green finance standard systems, with a focus on introducing the interoperability mechanism of relevant catalogs between China and Europe. The exchange dialogue session covered topics including "ESG Information Disclosure, Data Governance, and Financial Applications" and "Technology Empowerment for Green Finance and Risk Prevention and Control."