APEC committee chooses Da Nang as next low-carbon town

The Vietnamese city of Da Nang was selected at last week’s 44th APEC energy meeting in Washington DC as the site of Low-Carbon Model Town Project, according to Pham Thanh Tung, the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade's International Co-operation Department.

The APEC project aims to would create up to 20 low-carbon model cities using energy-efficient technologies, including smart grids and renewable power generation.

Central Da Nang City has proposed four low-carbon model projects, including battery powered bicycles, technologies to curb greenhouse gas emissions and to use renewable energy sources, a metro system and rapid bus transit.

The city's Department of Natural Resources and Environment said Da Nang had already cut 12,000 tonnes of carbon emissions through a pilot project and saved VND12 billion (USD570,000).

The city has approved a second phase of the project to run to 2015 and is set to be become a “green city” by 2020.

The APEC Low Carbon town project was launched in June, 2010 in Tokyo at which time China’s Tianjin City was identified as the first low-carbon city under the program.