From environmental governance to digital and intelligent environmental protection: The long - term approach to the "green" economic development in Chaoyang District

Text by | A Zhi

Currently, green development has become a contemporary imperative, while digitalization and intelligentization serve as the core driving forces for industrial transformation and green development.

On April 10th, the People's Government of Chaoyang District, Beijing, in collaboration with the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences and the China Association of Environmental Protection Industry, held the "Vibrant Green Chaoyang, Driving the Future" Chaoyang Environmental Protection Industry Digital and Intelligent Innovation Theme Promotion Event in Beijing. At the event, five leading enterprises in the environmental protection field, represented by Beijing Chaoyang Environmental Group Co., Ltd., successively presented their new achievements in terms of technological innovation, industrial practice, and operation models. Subsequently, multiple enterprises and institutions officially announced their new collaborations in the field of digital and intelligent environmental protection on-site.

Notably, the "3+N" Chaoyang Digital and Intelligent Environmental Protection Industry Development Consortium was officially launched. The "3" refers to the three core pillars, including the policy guidance and resource support provided by the Chaoyang District Government, the scientific research strength and technological innovation contributed by the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, and the industry practice experience accumulated by the China Association of Environmental Protection Industry. The "N" represents the market vitality and innovation impetus brought by numerous leading enterprises in the industry.

From the implementation results, innovative collaborations to industrial empowerment, this theme promotion event comprehensively demonstrated the policy advantages and development opportunities of Chaoyang District in the field of digital and intelligent environmental protection.

Yang Hongfu, the Deputy District Mayor of the People's Government of Chaoyang District, Beijing, also pointed out in his speech that "relying on industrial resources, scientific and technological innovation capabilities, and opening-up advantages, Chaoyang District has accelerated the digital and intelligent innovation of the environmental protection industry, promoted the green transformation of the industrial, energy, and transportation structures, and embarked on a 'Chaoyang' path of coordinated progress between ecological environmental protection and high-quality development. The digital and intelligent environmental protection industry will also embrace new development opportunities."

Digital and Intelligent Innovation, Driving Industrial Green Transformation

The change from "environmental protection industry" to "digital and intelligent environmental protection" reflects an industrial upgrade.

To put it simply, digital and intelligent environmental protection takes "digitalization + intelligentization" as the core and is a new business form derived from the integrated development of the traditional environmental protection industry and new-generation information technologies such as big data, cloud computing, 5G, and artificial intelligence. It mainly encompasses six key areas: digital and intelligent environmental governance, digital and intelligent resource recycling, digital and intelligent environmental management, digital and intelligent comprehensive environmental services, digital and intelligent ecological protection, and digital and intelligent green and low-carbon development.

Taking digital and intelligent environmental governance as an example, since last year, Chaoyang District has comprehensively promoted the construction of the "Ecological Brain." By utilizing technologies such as the Internet of Things and big data, it has established an integrated environmental monitoring network covering the sky, land, and air. Compared with traditional environmental governance, the "Ecological Brain" can achieve digitalization, intelligentization, and visualization, enabling real-time monitoring, early warning, and pollution source tracing of environmental quality.

This means that today's environmental governance has transformed from traditional experience-based decision-making to data-driven precise governance. Through the innovation and upgrade of technological means, it can achieve full-life cycle management and form a closed-loop from monitoring and early warning to governance.

It is reported that currently, Chaoyang District's "Ecological Brain" has taken the lead in the city to build an online monitoring platform for the catering industry covering 1,500 catering enterprises, 53 full-item air pollutant monitoring stations, 380 PM2.5 and total suspended particulate matter (TSP) monitoring substations covering all communities (villages), 43 dustfall and road dust load monitoring points, and 233 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) monitoring stations involving key auto repair clusters. With the "Ecological Brain" as the core, the "green content" of Chaoyang District's regional development is also continuously increasing.

Digitalization and greening are the two major trends in the current new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, as well as the two contemporary characteristics of new-quality productivity.

In the new round of building a beautiful China, as a national demonstration area for ecological civilization construction and one of the first pilot cities for pollution reduction and carbon emission reduction, Chaoyang District has always played a leading and exemplary role. As the main battlefield for enhancing green productivity, the environmental protection industry also plays a crucial role in accelerating the green and low-carbon transformation of regional economic development.

Rich Implementation Scenarios, Accelerating the Diversified Development of Industrial Structure

Industrial upgrading requires policy guidance, resource support, financial investment, and technological backing. The full combination of all these elements aims to promote the healthy development of the upstream and downstream ecosystems of the industrial chain and ultimately create a favorable market and business environment for enterprise development.

In Chaoyang District, the foundation for the development of the digital and intelligent environmental protection industry is mature, and it is fully prepared to cultivate the development of more upstream and downstream enterprises.

According to Yang Hongfu's on-site introduction, to better integrate the digital economy with green development, Chaoyang District has focused on promoting the innovative development of the digital and intelligent environmental protection industry, covering 6 key areas and 24 sub-areas. Currently, a development system with complete areas, optimized structure, and fine division of labor has basically taken shape.

In terms of industrial policy support, Chaoyang District enjoys pilot policies in investment, trade, etc. To support the development of key industries, it has continuously optimized and improved the "1+7" industrial policy system, investing over 4 billion yuan annually to support the development of key industries such as headquarters economy and high-tech industries. In terms of industrial space, Chaoyang District is accelerating the coordinated and mutually reinforcing development of the digital and intelligent environmental protection industry with the three key functional areas of Zhongguancun Chaoyang Park, Beijing CBD, and Shanhewan Valley Innovation Zone to fully meet the personalized development needs of various digital and intelligent environmental protection enterprises.

In terms of technological accumulation, there are 58 central enterprise headquarters and key branches, 14 listed environmental protection enterprises, and 9 functional platforms such as the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences in the digital and intelligent environmental protection field in Chaoyang District, which have leading advantages in standard setting and technological innovation. In terms of industrial resources, there are 25 multinational company headquarters such as Suez and 14 international organizations such as the EU Innovation Center in the district. Relying on open policies and international platforms, Chaoyang District's ability to attract international environmental protection innovation resources is constantly improving, providing a broad platform for digital and intelligent environmental protection industry enterprises to "bring in" and "go out."

The improvement of the entire industrial chain, from technology R & D, achievement transformation, scenario innovation to implementation and application, also provides broad implementation scenarios and market development space for relevant enterprises in the digital and intelligent environmental protection field across the country and even the world.

At the theme promotion event, representatives of 5 leading enterprises in the digital and intelligent environmental protection field, including Beijing Chaoyang Environmental Group, Beijing Capital Eco - Environment Protection Group, Suez Environment Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd., Beijing Construction Engineering Environmental Remediation Co., Ltd., and Beijing North Drainage Clean Energy Technology Co., Ltd., successively introduced their technological innovation and implementation project cases in detail.

Taking Capital Eco - Environment Protection Group as an example, "AI + ecological environmental protection" has been the direction it has been continuously exploring in recent years. Currently, the group has independently developed an intelligent judgment technology capable of monitoring high - value hotspots. By constructing a pollution case database with historical high - value data and embedding intelligent analysis algorithms, it has achieved rapid analysis of the causes of high - value pollution and intelligent alarm.

The improvement in efficiency is remarkable. With the support of artificial intelligence, the traditional 30 - minute analysis time has been compressed to 20 seconds, with an efficiency improvement of nearly 90%.

Efficient judgment is the first step. Capital Eco - Environment Protection Group has also introduced automatic drone cruising. The system can automatically generate inspection routes, provide real - time feedback on inspection results, and automatically generate inspection reports, significantly improving data perception and scheduling efficiency through "unmanned operation."

A series of new technologies represented by AI are driving systematic changes in the ecological environmental protection industry. The improvement in efficiency and effectiveness also provides new ideas and scenarios for environmental protection and ecological governance.

This is not just a result display of a single enterprise but the coordinated development of enterprises driven by the regional development potential under the integration of the industrial ecosystem. In fact, as long as leading enterprises further play their leading role, they will often continuously drive the rapid growth of a series of upstream and downstream enterprises in the region. At a time when sustainable development has become the main theme of human economic and social development, such industrial cooperation and ecological co - construction are particularly important.

Promoting the Co - existence of Ecological Protection and Economic Development

This year, Chaoyang District's digital and intelligent environmental protection has proposed a fusion model of "green development + ecological governance." Behind this innovative model is essentially a systematic change from the past "mutual separation" of economic growth and ecological protection to "co - existence."

Environmental protection and economic development are not in a binary opposition but are complementary.

Chaoyang District will continue to promote the development of the digital and intelligent environmental protection industry in the future. It aims to break the separation between traditional environmental protection and economic development through digital and intelligent means, forming a closed - loop from ecological governance to optimize environmental carrying capacity, green technology to activate industrial momentum, and data elements to reconstruct the governance system.

For example, the governance of the Liangma River Basin in Beijing is a typical case of the coordinated promotion of urban ecological restoration and economic development. Its success lies in the systematic design of the "trinity" of "ecological restoration - urban renewal - industrial upgrading," realizing the transformation from a "black and odorous water body" to an "international waterfront economic belt."

In terms of results, the systematic and innovative comprehensive governance in Chaoyang District not only makes the Liangma River an ecological green corridor but more importantly, drives the leap in regional economic value, forming a sustainable development model of "governing water to revitalize the city."

In fact, promoting the coordinated development of ecological environmental protection and the economy is precisely the concept and goal advocated by Chaoyang District in vigorously developing the digital and intelligent environmental protection industry. To achieve this goal, Chaoyang District is also vigorously promoting government - enterprise linkage and building a multi - party coordinated operation system.

At the event, Beijing Chaoyang Environmental Group Co., Ltd. signed agreements with environmental protection enterprises such as the EU Innovation Center, which will promote the implementation of key cooperation projects in multiple fields such as technological innovation and resource sharing, international cooperation and green trade, cross - field cooperation in pollution reduction and carbon emission reduction, and green finance in Chaoyang District. It will bring advanced environmental protection technologies and solutions to Chaoyang District and effectively promote the optimization and upgrading of the industrial structure, cultivating new economic growth points.

As Yang Hongfu summarized on - site, "Green development is a contemporary imperative, and digital transformation is the only way forward." From the obvious environmental governance effects to the tangible enterprise development speed, the phased achievements of Chaoyang District's digital and intelligent environmental protection industry and enterprises in the region are providing replicable practical experience for megacities to explore green technology innovation and industrial upgrading.