At the 2024 Shanghai International Carbon Neutrality Expo on June 5, visitors observe a Tesla Cyber-truck featured at the booth of Shanghai's Lingang Group. [Photo by Luo Bin for International Services Shanghai]

The 2024 Shanghai International Carbon Neutrality Expo opened on June 5 at the Shanghai New International Expo Center, initiating a four-day event that is dedicated to showcasing the latest advancements and future direction of the low-carbon sector.

The expo aims to facilitate green trade, academic-industry collaboration and exchange of experiences and practices.

This year’s expo, themed "Path to Carbon Neutrality", features over 600 enterprises from 14 countries and regions, with an estimated attendance of over 80,000 visitors. The event is divided into three main sections: themed exhibitions, forums, and trade matchmaking activities.

Spanning over 100,000 square meters, the exhibition area includes six concurrent exhibitions focusing on new energy vehicles, rail transit, molds, and lubricants, among other things.

A major highlight of the event's opening day was the 2024 Net-Zero Cycle Industry Innovation Forum, which emphasized the importance of the circular economy in achieving carbon neutrality.

Shanghai-based unicorn enterprise Horen, in collaboration with Shanghai Lingang Economic Development (Group) Co Ltd, or Lingang Group, hosted the forum and launched a zero-carbon cycle entrepreneurship plan. This initiative aims to support 1,000 green circulation entrepreneurs over the next five years, providing technical, financial, and training support to help accelerate the development of green production capabilities.

Industry leaders shared insights during the forum. Guo Zhanqiang, secretary-general of the China Association of Circular Economy, highlighted the critical role of circular packaging in reducing resource consumption and environmental pollution.

"Horen has improved packaging recycling rates through intelligent packaging technology and digital circular management systems, prompting the industry to turn towards a more sustainable direction," Guo said.

Gong Wei, vice president of Lingang Group, said "Horen has become a new green service icon for Shanghai, and Lingang Group will continue to support green, low-carbon and digital enterprises."

Horen founder and CEO Liao Qingxin shared a compelling case study of a partner company that achieved significant cost savings and environmental benefits by increasing its use of circular packaging.

"The company reduced its annual packaging costs by 40 percent and cut down on its disposable packaging materials," Liao said.

The expo also featured other significant events and announcements. Baoshan district set up a nearly 700-square-meter pavilion to showcase its achievements in building a core functional area for the green and low-carbon supply chain. The district also played host to the "Green and Low-Carbon Supply Chain Product Carbon Footprint" parallel forum on June 6, which focuses on the development and implementation of carbon footprint standards and databases.

Additionally, the Shanghai branch of the Bank of China presented its green financial innovations, highlighting its commitment to supporting sustainable development through a comprehensive range of financial services.

BASF showcased its progress towards achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, including the introduction of a large-scale electric heating steam cracker and the launch of a pioneer alliance to achieve the zero-carbon circulation of disposable paper cups.