China plans to increase proportion of green factory output to 40 pct by 2030: official

More than 40 percent of China's gross manufacturing output at national, provincial, and municipal levels will come from in green factories by 2030, said an official from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) at a routine policy briefing on Friday.

To reach the goal, the ministry plans to encourage foreign trade enterprises to adopt green design and production practices and accelerate industrial green transformation to inject new momentum into expanding green trade.

The MIIT stated that it will strengthen value creation, guide enterprises in implementing green design and green manufacturing, enhance added value of products to obtain "green premiums" and better access international markets.

"Next, we will accelerate the green transformation and upgrading of the entire chain including product design, manufacturing, use, recycling, and circular utilization. We will implement the plan to improve and expand green factories, aiming to increase the gross manufacturing output sourced in green factories at national, provincial, and municipal levels to 40 percent by 2030. We will carry out green supply chain enhancement initiatives, promote the green transformation of high-tech zones and industrial parks, and actively cultivate and construct a number of zero-carbon parks," said Wang Peng, director of the Department of Energy Conservation and Comprehensive Utilization under the MIIT.

By the end of 2024, China had established 451 green design enterprises cumulatively, developed and promoted over 40,000 green products, cultivated 6,430 national-level green factories and 491 green industrial parks in total. Output from the green factories accounted for over 20 percent of the national total.

China plans to increase proportion of green factory output to 40 pct by 2030: official

The China-Laos Railway has become a major transport artery in Southeast Asia, cutting freight times, expanding passenger flows and linking regional economies.

The China-Laos Railway, a landmark project of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, began operations in December 2021. The 1,035-kilometer railway connects Kunming, the capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province, with Vientiane, the capital of Laos.

It has significantly enhanced regional connectivity, boosted regional economic growth, and facilitated people-to-people and cultural exchanges.

Passengers can now travel by rail all the way from Thailand to China, a journey that would have been difficult to imagine just a few years ago.

"I traveled up from Bangkok last night on the overnight train, and now I'm traveling up to Luang Prabang and then on to Kunming to explore Yunnan province. It's really easy to use the app and to book the trains, so so far so good. Everything seems to be working out," said an Australian passenger.

Jie Sen, a passenger service staff at Vientiane Railway Station, said the railway has become an important channel for cross-border travel.

"Passengers from more than 120 countries and regions have traveled on the railway. International trains between China and Laos now run four times a day, with the fastest trip from Kunming South to Vientiane taking just 9 hours and 36 minutes," he said.

"In terms of freight transport, cross-border shipping time has been reduced from five to seven days by road to just one to two days by rail. More than 3,800 categories of goods are now transported via the railway. Its logistics network reaches 19 countries and regions, including Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore," said He Xuqiang, head of Vientiane Railway Station.

China-Laos Railway becomes key regional transportation corridor