Guo Ru, Professor of Tongji University: Using digital intelligence to empower comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development
August 15, 2024 is the second National Ecology Day. The theme of this year's event is "Accelerating the Comprehensive Green Transformation of Economic and Social Development." In January 2024, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the "Opinions on Comprehensively Promoting the Construction of a Beautiful China", pointing out that "accelerating the green transformation of development methods" and clearly requiring "promoting the deep integration of industrial digitalization, intelligence and greening"; In July 2024, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the "Opinions on Accelerating the Comprehensive Green Transformation of Economic and Social Development", further proposing to "accelerate the coordinated transformation and development of digitalization, green and digitalization." Promoting comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development is the basic strategy to solve resource, environment and ecological problems. Entering the new era, digital and intelligent transformation with "digitalization + intelligence" as its core is exerting great power in terms of energy conservation and consumption reduction, and improving energy resource utilization. It has become a comprehensive green transformation to promote the construction of a beautiful China and economic and social development. The inevitable choice.
The rapid development and application of digital intelligence technology will gradually reshape the economic and social development model
The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China emphasized the need to improve the institutional system of ecological civilization, coordinate the promotion of carbon reduction, pollution reduction, green expansion, and growth, actively respond to climate change, and accelerate the improvement of the institutional mechanism that implements the concept that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets. It is obvious that achieving synergy between multiple goals in different regions faces huge challenges, and we must rely on the continuous exploration and innovation of new concepts, new technologies, and new models and their final implementation.
From a global perspective, digital intelligence is not only an important driving force for industrial upgrading, but also an important path to achieve green, low-carbon and high-quality development and respond to global climate change. In 2023, the total digital economy of five countries including the United States, China, Germany, Japan, and South Korea will exceed US$33 trillion, a year-on-year increase of more than 8%. Digital intelligence can effectively improve resource and energy utilization efficiency and help enterprises achieve green and low-carbon transformation through means such as market restructuring, technological innovation, and intelligent management. Through digital empowerment, enterprises can realize intelligent production processes, optimization of resource allocation, and minimization of energy consumption and carbon emissions, thereby improving economic benefits while helping the sustainable development of the ecological environment.
Practical experience from various parts of China also shows that the application of digital technology in energy management, industrial production, architectural design, transportation optimization, ecological protection and restoration, and green lifestyles is promoting the in-depth development of China's green and low-carbon transformation and the construction of a beautiful China. For example, the Yangtze River Delta Ecological Green Integrated Development Demonstration Zone Smart Brain is the country's first cross-provincial smart brain project. Relying on the Yangtze River Delta regional data sharing and exchange platform, it integrates 18 data links and 242 data resources at three levels and eight directions in Shanghai, Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces and one city, providing cross-regional social security and medical insurance interoperability, ecological and green co-insurance joint governance, and active and stable promotion. Provide technical support for carbon peak and carbon neutrality. The "Fishery and Light Complementary" project in Chenjia Town, Chongming, located at the estuary of the Yangtze River, actively implements agricultural digital and intelligent technology innovation. By arranging photovoltaic power generation facilities above fish ponds, it has achieved the simultaneous and efficient utilization of fishery farming and solar power generation, providing global developing countries and regions provide good examples of green, low-carbon and intelligent transformation.
It can be seen that the rapid development and application of digital intelligence technology will gradually reshape the economic and social development model, promote the optimization and upgrading of industrial structure, improve resource and energy utilization efficiency, reduce the negative impact of the ecological environment, and promote the development and growth of new productive forces. Today, digital intelligence is playing an increasingly important role and is expected to contribute Chinese wisdom and Chinese solutions to global ecological and environmental protection and sustainable development.
Digital intelligence empowers economic and social development and challenges facing comprehensive green transformation
Although digital intelligence has shown great potential in promoting the construction of a beautiful China and green and low-carbon development, in current practice, it often faces many challenges such as lack of top-level design, insufficient local preparation, and insufficient change leadership. It is urgent to break through bottlenecks in policy design, technological innovation and talent training.
Specifically, although the national and provincial government levels have formed a top-level design policy system to promote the construction of "Digital China" and "Beautiful China", at the specific implementation level, there are still information barriers between different departments, and green and low-carbon supporting policies and incentive mechanisms are not yet complete, especially in terms of tax incentives, financial subsidies, green credit and other policies and measures. Failure to fully stimulate the driving force of digital innovation and green transformation in enterprises and research institutions. Market demand is an important driving force for promoting regional green and low-carbon transformation. However, my country is currently in the process of transitioning from dual control of energy consumption to dual control of carbon emissions, and has not yet formed unified and clear carbon emission quota setting and allocation rules. Although my country has established the world's largest carbon emissions trading market in 2021, the types of industry companies included are relatively single and need to be further expanded and improved. In addition, affected by the international economic situation, enterprises and consumers 'demand for green and low-carbon products and services is volatile. During the economic downturn, they are more inclined to choose lower-cost traditional technologies and products rather than high-cost green and low-carbon products, which limit the role of the market to a certain extent.
At the same time, the standards for digital intelligence applications in different fields and industries have not yet formed a unified system. Especially in the field of green and low-carbon technologies, there are large differences in standards and methods among enterprises and regions, which has led to obstacles in technology promotion and application. To overcome this obstacle, local governments and industry organizations must work together to formulate unified digital intelligence standards and specifications so that various industries and regions can apply digital intelligence technology more efficiently and promote green and low-carbon development. Data quality issues also restrict the development and application of digital intelligence. At present, the data quality of some enterprises is uneven, the phenomenon of data silos is widespread, and there is a lack of high-quality, unified and standardized data. In order to solve this problem, enterprises need to establish a sound data management system, improve the quality of green and low-carbon-related data collection, storage and processing, and ensure the integrity, accuracy and consistency of data, thereby providing a solid foundation for digital intelligence applications. Data foundation.
In addition, there is still a large gap in digital and intelligent talents in my country. The "2023 Global Digital Technology Development Research Report" shows that China has a large talent base but lacks high-level talents. China's total number of digital science and technology talents is 128,000, ranking first, accounting for 17% of the global total, but there are only 7,000 high-level talents, accounting for only 9% of the global total. The development of digital-intelligence-enabled regions requires cross-compound talents with both digital-intelligence technical level and green and low-carbon professional knowledge. Therefore, multiple measures should be taken simultaneously to accelerate the construction of a new pattern of cultivating high-quality talents.
Digital empowerment is a key path to achieve green, low-carbon and high-quality development
Institutional innovation. Through institutional and systematic reforms of fiscal, taxation and financial policies, we will effectively increase investment in fiscal, taxation and financial resources in the green and low-carbon fields of digital and intelligence empowerment, reduce the promotion cost of digital and intelligence technology, and share the risks of digital transformation. Establish a unified and standardized digitally intelligent green and low-carbon standard system and promote the implementation of classified law enforcement supervision. The government and industry organizations should jointly formulate digitally intelligent green and low-carbon standards, clarify technical specifications and operating guidelines, and promote the unification and implementation of standards. Enterprises should establish a sound data management system to standardize the collection, storage, processing and use of data to ensure the integrity, accuracy and consistency of data. At the same time, strengthen data security and privacy protection, prevent data leakage and abuse, and maintain data security and credibility. Vigorously promote off-site law enforcement, accelerate the formation of a smart law enforcement system, improve supervision efficiency, and reduce ecological and environmental violations.
Mechanism innovation. Establish a multi-party collaborative mechanism that empowers green and low-carbon development based on local conditions. Strengthen communication and collaboration among governments, enterprises, scientific research institutions and all sectors of society, form common goals and action plans, promote the integration of resources and forces, and form a synergy to promote green and low-carbon development. The government should play a leading role in formulating strategic goals and policies and measures for green and low-carbon development, coordinating the interests and actions of all parties, and promoting coordinated cooperation among multiple parties. Enterprises should actively participate in green and low-carbon development, assume social responsibilities, and promote the research and development and application of green and low-carbon technologies and products. Scientific research institutions should strengthen research and development of green and low-carbon technologies and provide technical support and solutions. All sectors of society should actively participate in green and low-carbon actions to promote green consumption and sustainable development. At the same time, we can build a cross-departmental, cross-provincial, digitally intelligent green and low-carbon management platform to promote the flow and sharing of information, knowledge and services, and help spread the knowledge and management concepts of green and low-carbon technology, thereby promoting the widespread application of green and low-carbon technologies.
Technological innovation. Strengthen the in-depth integration and innovation of digital and intelligent technology and green and low-carbon technologies, and greatly enhance digital and intelligent innovation capabilities. Real-time monitoring and data analysis of intelligent technology during the production process can optimize production processes and resource allocation, thereby reducing energy consumption and carbon emissions, and improving production efficiency and product quality. In addition, smart technology can also help companies predict and prevent environmental risks, reduce environmental pollution and ecological damage, and achieve green production and sustainable development. Therefore, various green and low-carbon scenarios can be explored and intelligent technologies can be used to integrate to form a cross-border integrated innovation ecosystem. Facing market demand, enterprises should actively explore and develop application scenarios for various digital and intelligent green products. Through big data computing and intelligent algorithm optimization, companies can enhance the market competitiveness and application effectiveness of green technologies and products. The government and enterprises can jointly establish green and low-carbon technology research and development centers and laboratories to promote technological innovation and industrialization through industry-university-research cooperation.
Do a good job in talent training. First of all, we should clarify the training goals of majors related to digital intelligence, green and low-carbon development, and optimize the curriculum system. According to the needs of digitalization and green and low-carbon transformation, revise training goals, rebuild the curriculum system, and cultivate compound talents to meet the market demand for the coordinated development of digital intelligence and green and low-carbon technologies. Secondly, we should strengthen the construction of teachers for cultivating digital and intellectual talents. Improve teachers 'digital, intelligent, green and low-carbon professionalism and teaching capabilities, promote the construction of cross-disciplinary faculty, and provide guarantees for cultivating outstanding digital and green and low-carbon technical talents. In addition, attention should be paid to increasing financial support for the training of digital and intelligent talents. By increasing investment in education and scientific research, we will support talent training and scientific research activities related to digital and low-carbon technologies, and provide solid talent and intellectual support for achieving green and low-carbon transformation.
Strengthen international cooperation. International cooperation is an important way to promote digital intelligence and green and low-carbon development. Actively participating in the formulation and promotion of international digital economy and green and low-carbon development standards will help enhance China's voice and influence in international green and low-carbon transformation and development. China should actively participate in the activities of international organizations and multilateral mechanisms, participate in the formulation and revision of international digital economy and green and low-carbon related standards, and enhance China's status and influence in the international standards system. At the same time, we should strengthen exchanges and cooperation with international advanced technologies and experiences, select and apply international advanced digital intelligence and green and low-carbon standards, improve the quality and level of domestic technologies and products, and promote the international development of domestic industries. At the same time, it actively carries out international cooperation projects and technical exchange activities to promote the sharing and dissemination of digital and intelligence technologies and experiences, and promote the development and application of global green and low-carbon technologies. On this basis, we will promote the international development of green and low-carbon technologies and products, open up international markets, and improve the international competitiveness and influence of China's green and low-carbon technologies and products. Strengthen foreign trade and investment cooperation, promote the export and application of green and low-carbon technologies and products, and enhance the share and status of China's technologies and products in the international market. At the same time, it actively participates in international technical cooperation and project construction to promote the global application and promotion of green and low-carbon technologies and products.
Through institutional innovation, mechanism innovation, technological innovation, talent training and international cooperation, we can effectively respond to the challenges faced in the green and low-carbon transformation process, improve the industry's green and low-carbon production efficiency and technical level, and promote the high-quality development of China's economy. With the continuous advancement of technology and the deepening of application, digital intelligence will bring more opportunities and impetus to the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development, help China achieve the goal of building a beautiful China and "double carbon", and contribute to global green and low-carbon sustainable development contributes greater strength.
The author is a professor at the School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, vice president and doctoral supervisor of the Institute of Carbon Neutralization, Tongji University
