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China has pledged to be carbon neutral by 2060 — and its citizens are helping industries across the country reach that goal. Environmentalist Ma Jun introduces the Blue Map, an app that empowers people to report pollution violations in their communities and track real-time environmental data, holding emitters accountable and helping companies along the global supply chain make informed sourcing decisions. Hear how the app uses the power of transparency to motivate more than 14,000 factories (so far) to clean up.
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Choking smog, polluted waters,
climate change.
This has been the environmental cost
of the tremendous growth in China
over the past 40 years.
At the same time,
hundreds of millions of people
have put themselves out of poverty.
As an environmentalist in China,
I have witnessed all of this firsthand.
The challenge we’re facing is:
Can we clean up as fast and as broadly
as the massive development
degrading our air, water and climate?
China has one point four billion people,
still a fast-growing economy,
and is responsible for the biggest share
of the current greenhouse gas emissions.
China knows its global responsibility
and has pledged
to be carbon-neutral by 2060.
It means more than 10 billion metric tons
of carbon emissions
must be stopped or be neutralized.
How can we possibly do it?
The pressing global climate situation
requires each of us not just to do it,
but to do it faster.
I believe there’s a chance
for us to succeed,
as I know it too,
now that I have seen work to help reduce
the enormous environmental pollution.
It is the power of transparency,
pollution information made public using
mobile internet and other IT technologies
may empower millions of citizens
to speed change
by holding corporations
and government agencies accountable.
I personally got involved
in the transparency drive
for water pollution control.
Years ago, beside Lake Tai,
the third largest freshwater
lake in China,
I saw a group of fishermen using long
ladles to scoop out the algae bloom.
One fisherman said to me,
“When I was young, on a hot day like this,
I would have jumped
into the lake for a [swim].”
“But now,” he said, “the fish are gone
and we’re paid to scoop out the algae.”
Pointing to those factories
not far from the shoreline,
he said the lake would not be clean
until they stop dumping.
Years of research made me understand
how hard it is to check the dumping.
With weak enforcement,
the cost of violations was often too low,
and those who cut corners
became more competitive in the market.
This region happens to be
one of the biggest centers
of the global supply chain
for electronic gadgets and for clothes.
But those multinational
brands sourcing locally
were not very helpful at the beginning.
Many would argue, “In China,
I don’t know who is polluting,
so I would buy from the cheapest.”
This is going to add further pressure
on those local suppliers
to race down to the bottom
for their contracts.
But I told them I have a map
that can help them figure out
who is polluting.
From 2006,
we began to compile
corporate monitoring data
data into a database
known as the Blue Map.
We started with only two thousand
records of violations,
but through years of promotion
of enforcement and transparency,
that number has topped two million.
The missing dots
in the global supply chain’s
environmental management
began to be connected when a
group of [electronic] and textile brands
started comparing their list of suppliers
with our list of violators.
Let me explain how it works.
This is the Blue Map
for the Yangtze River Delta,
which covers the Lake Tai region.
Each individual factory —
and there are tens of thousands of them —
is color coded.
Blue and green for “good,”
red and yellow for “bad.”
The color codes are derived
from the violations on record
and the confirmed public reporting.
And we have put more
than four million of such dots
on the digital map,
all color coded.
Still, how can a map make change?
This is one of the largest
dyehouse suppliers.
It used to have multiple
violation records,
but insisted if they treat the waste
but now they are neighbors,
they would lose their business.
But then five brands, starting from Gap,
all told this company
it would lose their business
if it would not treat the waste properly.
Realizing that the sourcing
code has changed,
the company spent millions of dollars
to bring more than 12 million metric tons
of textile wastewater
contaminated by dyes and chemicals
up to standards,
and then made further investments
to cut the volume of wastewater.
We did the same thing,
along with our local partners,
such as Green Jiangnan,
with the electronic industry suppliers
that manufacture parts for Apple, Dell,
Huawei and other major brands.
Here is one of the largest
[electronic] suppliers,
dredging the local canal to remove
the heavy metals dumped in it.
Victories like this build upon each other
to enable the supply chain management
to reach further upstream
through the supply chain,
from garment factories to fabric mills
to dyehouses to the dye manufacturers.
Today, the color codes
can mean the difference
between a company that secures a loan
from a major bank,
like the Postal Bank of China,
and one that does not.
The application of the Blue Map data,
in green supply chain and green finance,
has motivated more
than fourteen thousand companies
to address their violations
or make disclosure.
The scope of environmental transparency
got further extended in China
during its epic fighting
against the severe smog,
which used to expose hundreds
of millions of people to health hazards.
In response to the public
demand for disclosure,
corporate online monitoring data were made
open every hour or every two hours.
The first of its kind in the world.
At the same time, people were acquiring
cell phones across China,
so we developed a cell phone app
to enable people to access the air
and water quality data.
But the most unique function
of the Blue Map app
is for our users to access
the records of emitters,
then share through social media,
tagging the official account.
Such kind of a microreporting
has motivated some of the largest
emitters to change behavior.
This is one of them,
a listed steel plant which used to breach
the standards repeatedly.
The microreporting filed by the local
Blue Map users and NGOs
has got a local agency to weigh in
and require this company to clean up.
Eventually, the steel plant spent
more than one billion dollars
to make a very deep cut
in its air emissions,
a contribution to the significant
improvement of air quality
in a vast airshed,
which includes my city, Beijing.
Despite all the successes,
I have to acknowledge our mission
is far from being accomplished.
There are still more than two million
records of violations in the Blue Map.
Today, we face massive tension
between environmental protection
and economic recovery,
brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic
as well as the looming
climate catastrophe.
There’s a strong temptation,
In local regions and cities,
to relax environmental regulations,
which has resulted already in a rather
big rebound of the carbon emissions.
So China’s 2060 carbon neutrality pledge
came at a critical moment.
But the implementation of it
wouldn’t be easy.
Remember the steel plant that already
spent one billion dollars to clean up?
Now the new task is for us
to review with it how to tackle
the 10 million metric tons
of carbon emission.
And this is just zero point one percent
of the carbon emissions that we need
to stop or neutralize in China.
Again, we must tap
into the power of transparency.
My team and I have launched
a Blue Map for Zero Carbon,
a database that needs to bring
China’s long-term national commitment
down to where that 10 billion tons
of carbon are actually emitted.
This is how a zero-carbon map looks like.
Each province and city is color-coded
based on its level of emission.
With trend analysis,
tracking when and at what level
the carbon will peak and stop growing.
As you can see, the cities of Beijing,
Shanghai, are on track,
while others like Tangshan, like Yinchuan,
still have a long way to go.
To generate peer pressure and incentives,
we’re working with our partner,
the Chinese Academy
of Environmental Science,
in assessing the local climate ambition,
performance and carbon-decoupling
trends of major provinces,
cities and energy
and raw-material companies.
One clear gap we identified
is the lack of capacity
in measuring and reporting.
Along with other partners,
we developed a digital carbon
accounting platform.
So far, more than five thousand companies
have been motivated by brands and banks
to calculate and report
their carbon emissions or local emissions.
But my dream is to empower
millions of more businesses,
to measure and to report
and to reduce their emissions.
Bear in mind many of them
are part of this global supply chain.
If you know the product you consume
day in and day out,
often has 70 percent or more,
and sometimes to up to 90 percent,
of their carbon footprint
in the supply chain,
would you join our efforts
in motivating the big brands
and banks and investors
to green their global sourcing
and investment?
And it’s not just carbon.
Today, we further expand the Blue Map
to cover waste and plastics
and even biodiversity
so as to empower more people to join
this unprecedented global race to zero.
The prize for winning this ongoing race
is nothing less than a better world
for this generation
and for the generations to come.
For mankind and for all
the plants and animals
that call this planet their home.
Thank you.
Science & Technology4 years ago
Wired5 years ago
CNET4 years ago
Wired5 years ago
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People & Blogs2 years ago
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Mustard Seed
August 20, 2021 at 3:54 pm
China is doing a great job in dealing with pollution and climate change! A true leader in the world stage!
Quantum Droid
August 20, 2021 at 4:10 pm
Its not only china, but USA, Europe, India and others need to do this….the whole humanity should band together to stop this nonsense pollution…but who gonna convince the low life peasants? or the millionires? Who gonna sacrifice a little profit just to make the world a little better? not so many I guess….and thats a sad thing
Rawstar
August 20, 2021 at 4:32 pm
It doesn’t lead anywhere, only to TED.
jegersLV Jēgers
August 20, 2021 at 4:39 pm
Possible quick solutions could be tech without planned obsolescence (such as Apple), medium – making cheaper, more effective capture of CO2 and make into bricks etc.
チェリオ
August 20, 2021 at 4:53 pm
ちょっとふざけてるかと思ったけどブラックホール！！
Hòa Lê
August 20, 2021 at 4:54 pm
I think this is just a control application, but the problem of waste treatment, carbon dioxide … is the problem that I have not seen mentioned.
Turned 0FF
August 20, 2021 at 5:17 pm
According to the church I used to go to, climate change is God’s will and so therefore, nothing we can do about it… 🤦🏽♂️
Orl Cal
August 20, 2021 at 7:17 pm
Hahahaha. Thank god fewer and fewer people have time for that nonsense.
Ten Bird Nim
August 20, 2021 at 5:41 pm
It is now so hard to believe a single word coming out of a Chinese scientist or speaker. Is it true? Verifiable?
Shane Briscoe
August 20, 2021 at 5:45 pm
This is great!! I would love to know companies carbon footprint. That way I could make sure I’m supporting companies on the path to a healthy environment!!
1
August 20, 2021 at 6:19 pm
Ciong ma film Semesta Nico 🇮🇩
Orl Cal
August 20, 2021 at 7:15 pm
Tracking pollution from abroad isn’t the issue. The data is easily available, the CCP suppresses such spread of information or its discussion within its borders. The CCP is the problem as far as China’s contribution to planetary destruction goes. Elsewhere the issue is corporate capitalism and their similar role to the CCP in suppressing information, spreading misinformation, and avoiding taking responsibility.
Dominique Paule
August 20, 2021 at 7:24 pm
Thank you for your work. You give me hope and somehow restore my faith.
SOPHIST
August 20, 2021 at 8:02 pm
👋
平和
August 20, 2021 at 8:45 pm
Good talk…
de caesaris
August 20, 2021 at 9:10 pm
Absoloutely true and deep. Thumb UP !!!
Marko Barko
August 20, 2021 at 9:38 pm
Sorry folks, but we will change, when it is too late. Capitalism kills.
Filip _ Djordjic
August 20, 2021 at 9:48 pm
China has made great economic progress and with people who care, China can make epic ecological progress.
This just prooves China’s superiority over America, who as a 1st world economy has made no progress in the ecological sector.
Luiza Marchetti
August 20, 2021 at 10:29 pm
Omg, I read population instead of pollution on the title. I realized in the middle of the video that it was about environment and not genocide. Now I don’t know if I’m relieved or disappointed. (I was expecting it to be a good clickbait, not an idea to end the Chinese population, just in case you thought I was being xenophobic for being disappointed)
tamarisk
August 20, 2021 at 10:44 pm
As a consequences of reducing production costs.
Ginger in the Desert Creations
August 20, 2021 at 11:21 pm
I love that this actually acknowledges that industry does so much of the damage. It feels like corporations get a free pass here in the state while regular people are expected to eat no meat, only locally sourced and live within walking distance of work and never leave your little box.
English IELTS
August 20, 2021 at 11:56 pm
👍👍👍❤️❤️❤️❤️👍👍
hdmat101
August 21, 2021 at 12:31 am
The industrial Revolution and its consequences
Michael
August 21, 2021 at 1:05 am
Genius!!!
MichMich Gatos
August 21, 2021 at 1:26 am
The only problem is soon people that inspect to see which color the company is in would probably take bribes to get them a good color.
马龙的日常
August 21, 2021 at 1:43 am
马俊
Katie Zhong
August 22, 2021 at 6:57 am
是 马军
马龙的日常
August 22, 2021 at 7:14 am
马军胜在解放军队的生活方式上热搜了一下下一秒就开始了新的一天都是我的哥哥哥的生日礼物我小孩一定会很喜欢我的哥哥哥的生日礼物我小孩一定会很喜欢我的生活方式的时候我也是很喜欢的哥哥哥的哥哥哥真的很可爱哦，我们的生活方式是什么时候回来呢
马龙的日常
August 22, 2021 at 7:15 am
马军教程后一个人的哥哥哥的哥哥哥真的很可爱的样子，我们的生活方式是什么时候回来呢
马龙的日常
August 22, 2021 at 7:16 am
马军是的一个人的哥哥姐姐弟弟妹妹们都是我的生日礼物我小孩一定会很喜欢我的哥哥哥的样子，我们的生活方式是什么时候回来呢
Horse : Rider
August 21, 2021 at 2:20 am
*East Asia: mystery*
Michel Richard
August 21, 2021 at 2:35 am
Les Forces Majeures devraient développer avec leurs forces armées, ce que leur citoyens pourraient les utiliser aprês un TSUNAMI, UN TREMBLEMENT DE TERRE. Mais, pas dépenser à cout de milliards, sur armements de défense massive. Ce wui pourraient tous nous exterminer en quelques heures.
Prions le Seigneur, notre Dieu d’illuminer les preneurs de ďècisions. Et, de ne plus effrayer le monde avec ces missilles de défenses massives. Merci! Michel
Matthew Ng
August 21, 2021 at 2:40 am
I believe in China, all bets on China
Bruce Tsai
August 21, 2021 at 3:01 am
have just done some interpreting. but his English a bit difficult for me to understand, not terrible of course, and it’s defos my problem.
Tan Jacky
August 21, 2021 at 4:17 am
It would be even better when we can know the emission of the product that we daily use.
Entao Lu
August 21, 2021 at 5:04 am
%%@#$~#~@!^^%%%$$$American virus/American flu
Coronavirus originated in the United States. Two virus leaks occurred at the U.S. Virus Laboratory in Fort Detrick, Maryland, U.S. in 2019.On October 18, 2019, the 7th Military World Games was held in Wuhan china. American soldiers brought the coronavirus to Wuhan. the United States virus infected the world.Americans are trying to hide the truth
Legend-Kel'Thuzad
August 21, 2021 at 5:14 am
Require manufacturers to put the color from the map on their product tags and labels. Let the consumers decide and make it a part of advertising to incentivize the production facilities to become greener.
Ahmed Mohammed
August 21, 2021 at 5:46 am
I read population instead of pollution.
Apiokas
August 21, 2021 at 6:22 am
Thank you very much for your contribution to humanity.
Kongolox
August 21, 2021 at 9:04 am
Excellent idea, but w/o government backing it won’t live long.. soon it will conflict with the big manufacturers and force the app to be shutdown.
Gaurav Sangale
August 21, 2021 at 9:37 am
I think china is antic country,isnt it?
Micheal Weebles
August 21, 2021 at 1:27 pm
investing in stocks is still one of the very best means of doubling or holding your funds. Who thinks otherwise? Let’s debate. Lol
Kathleen Stone
August 21, 2021 at 1:33 pm
Wow! I know . Judith Met her sometime ago here in North Carolina during a fundraiser. Great speaker, full of humor and rhetorics too…”Mrs buy the dip “. Lol
Amy Mansfield
August 21, 2021 at 1:34 pm
Living off Nasdaq stocks currently. It’s fun 😀😀😀
Buryatia Ducky
August 21, 2021 at 1:35 pm
I found Judith Mary Ballantyne on the news when she revived Manning and Napier in 2016. In all honesty, she’s an Angel indeed. You can make more inquiries about her through the web.
Vargas Kenneth
August 21, 2021 at 1:36 pm
Being holding health stocks for years now
Onie Odelia
August 21, 2021 at 1:37 pm
A colleague said she put in 60k into her firm and she doubled it in months… Been meaning to check her out cos she has to be truly amazing to do that.
Al Ultramarathon
August 21, 2021 at 1:48 pm
Time for GIS to save the world
楊小藍
August 21, 2021 at 2:03 pm
China will not win the USA with using green developing methods. Meanwhile this country want to dominate the world, so it will be even more polluted in China in the future.
Mini Crewmate
August 21, 2021 at 2:21 pm
Who is Ted and when is he going to talk?
Laxmi Ukkali
August 21, 2021 at 4:11 pm
This is going to make a better environment if we dare to do this keeping in mind about future.. thanks sir☺️🙏
Calum Orbell
August 21, 2021 at 5:15 pm
Absolute Hero. Amazing and inspirational.
Michelle Bennett
August 21, 2021 at 9:25 pm
This is why i love big data, open data and data visualisations. It’s such a useful tool.
Vikram krishna Neeli
August 22, 2021 at 5:52 am
Simple but highly effective approach… Other countries should also follow such best practices and create such a transparent approach, Globally!
Invox
August 22, 2021 at 1:56 pm
This works “well” in hina because the goverment has a lot of stake on foreign companies. So they are not about to let their country’s enviroment “pay” to make other countries rich. Problem we face here in the West is that those companies “own” the goverment, so no actual enforcement of eco-policies is made.
xiaoye Guo
August 22, 2021 at 2:27 pm
thank you for you work.
Chan Aidan
August 22, 2021 at 9:13 pm
Summary:
China has pledged to be carbon neutral in 2060
Don’t say I don’t know who is polluting so I am going to buy the cheapest
Sourcing code is changing for companies to change investments to correct environmental pollutions
### The key is give disclosure to the datum. He created a map called the Blue Map. This is the power of transparency.
Blue Map has a database, which has recorded 2 million of violations based on confirmed public reporting.
– Corporate online monitoring data are made open every hour/two hours
– Factories are having colour codes. Blue / green = good, yellow / red = bad.
– App allow users access records of emitters, sharing to social media
### We need to generate peer pressure and influence to other cities of China. However, there is a gap where there is lack of capacity in measuring and reporting.
### His dream is to empower millions of industries to measure, report, and reduce emissions.
Every of them is in the global supply chain, we should join up to motivate the banks and investors to green their global sourcing and investment.
### The prize is a better world for this generation and generations to come. This is the planet we call home, so protect it
Walter Ritter
August 23, 2021 at 12:55 am
How do we know Ma Jun’s claims are not actually CCP propaganda? Why is your biographical info about him (that which appears below this video) so scant? Is it not true that NGOs in Chinese are, to an increasing degree, controlled by the CCP? How then can this video be trusted?
crtlaltoption
August 25, 2021 at 3:35 am
Does it make you feel bad to know that there are good people in the world?
Does it then make you feel better to fantasize that you actually sit at the peak of morality, and anyone else above is secretly a fraud?
Does it shatter your mind to think that someone can care about the climate crisis and be from China, that the your only response is “fake news”?
I actually don’t know the answers to these questions, I just like to leave youtube comments
Walter Ritter
August 26, 2021 at 4:10 pm
@crtlaltoption I enjoyed reading your reply to my comment. I will reply to your questions (a favor you chose not to do me) in the order they appear: No; No; No. How could you possibly know the answers to these questions? You asked them of me. (Your reply was to my comment.) If you have any thoughts about my questions, I would welcome them.
Nick
August 23, 2021 at 4:45 am
This app needs to be international. Every consumer in the would should have access
Eriksberg
August 23, 2021 at 11:08 am
Ah, transparency, the thing China is so famous for
dauntless bonita
August 23, 2021 at 11:57 am
This is a breakthrough. Thank you for sharing. Very informative and a lot can learn from it.
Thành Mai Đình
August 23, 2021 at 4:54 pm
Truong sa and hoang sa island are mine….VN
Nuno Hipólito
August 23, 2021 at 6:40 pm
Not all heroes wear capes
J-pop Music
August 25, 2021 at 5:47 am
こんなに歌うまいし浜辺みなみとキスもできるしこいつ隕石止めたんか？？？
TacticalSanta
August 25, 2021 at 8:05 pm
With all the ways china violates human rights (America isn’t innocent either), I can respect it if they manage to deal with pollution and co2 emissions. climate change doesn’t care about your race, it doesn’t really care about where you live, one of the few ways you’ll have a good chance against it is being high class. Every country should be doing as much as they can to move away from fossil fuels, even if it is costly to countries reliant on the oil industry, its a fucked up reality that we can’t just ignore.
Rikkimaru
August 26, 2021 at 8:32 am
Why comments under a two next videos are closed?
Judge1982
August 26, 2021 at 10:19 pm
How come comments are disabled on some videos and enabled on others? Unlawful censorship.