Nigeria Times

By Hong Qiuting, Li Gang, People’s Daily

The 139th China Import and Export Fair, known globally as the Canton Fair, opened on April 15th in Guangzhou, south China’s Guangdong province, showcasing a remarkable array of smart innovations — from drone delivery systems to badminton-playing robots — that captured global attention.

This year’s event set a new record for scale, featuring a total exhibition area of 1.55 million square meters and 75,700 booths. Over 32,000 exhibitors participated, including approximately 3,900 first-time participants.  

Reflecting trends toward innovation, sustainability, and intelligence, the fair introduced nine new specialized sections covering areas such as consumer drones, smart wearables, display technologies, and agricultural drones. The total number of exhibition sections expanded to 179, offering comprehensive coverage from traditional manufacturing to advanced industries.

Key highlights included newly established zones dedicated to consumer and agricultural drones, showcasing cutting-edge technologies such as flight control systems, AI-powered obstacle avoidance, and new-energy propulsion. These exhibits not only demonstrate China’s advances in the drone industry but also provide an efficient platform for global buyers and suppliers.

The opening day saw international buyers quickly engaging with the latest technologies. In one striking example, a buyer from Saudi Arabia ordered milk tea via the Canton Fair mobile app. Minutes later, a drone carrying an orange delivery box landed smoothly at a designated pickup point, where a humanoid robot retrieved the drink and handed it over.

“Very cool! This is my first time experiencing drone delivery,” said Osama, the buyer. “In such a large venue, I didn’t have to queue or walk around. It’s fast and completely new.”

In the consumer drone area, the hum of low-altitude test flights filled the air as sleek drones were displayed alongside live demonstrations of aerial photography and rescue operations. 

A buyer named Juan from Brazil climbed into the cockpit of an ultra-light electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) flying cart developed by Yufei Aviation, a Chinese professional manufacturer of eVTOL aircraft, carefully asking about payload, speed, and safety features. After evaluating the product, he concluded that it has strong market potential in Brazil.

This scene was typical of the opening day, where interaction and hands-on experience helped turn interest into potential orders. Product launch events featured diverse smart devices, including robots capable of playing badminton, automated bed cleaners, and bionic quadruped robots.

In one demonstration, a humanoid robot reacted in under a second to a fast-approaching shuttlecock, executing movements like tracking, positioning, stepping, swinging, and striking to return the shot, drawing cheers from the crowd.

“Through multi-stage learning, the robot has developed multiple degrees of wrist freedom, enabling it to replicate human wrist motion,” said Wang Mengdi, head of branding of the company that developed the robot. “It can execute forehand, backhand, and high-clear shots, making it a capable ‘badminton partner.'”

The prominence of intelligent products is one of the defining features of this year’s fair. The number of emerging industry zones has increased to 18, showcasing how innovative manufacturing capabilities are transitioning from workshops to the global market.. 

Among the 4.65 million exhibits, 23 percent are new products, 22 percent are green products, and 25 percent carry independent intellectual property rights. Notably, 61 percent of participating companies are leveraging technologies such as the industrial internet and AI.

“At this year’s Canton Fair, I’ve seen more and more digital and intelligent products seamlessly integrated into everyday life and consumption,” said a buyer named Pavel from Russia. “The vision of technology improving daily life is becoming a reality.”

The Canton Fair is often regarded as a barometer of China’s foreign trade, and this year it will host more than 600 product launch events, using a “smart technology plus real-world scenarios” approach to energize the exhibition and provide global participants with more convenient, targeted, and efficient trade services.

By Yao Xueqing, People’s Daily

Along the coast of Yancheng, Jiangsu province in east China lies what many call a “paradise for migratory birds.” Each year, millions of birds from around the world stop here to rest, molt, and overwinter, drawing roughly one million visitors who follow in their wake.

This is the Tiaozini wetland, situated in the Dongtai Coastal Economic Zone of Yancheng, Jiangsu province. As an important part of the Yellow Sea Wetland, one of the world’s largest intertidal wetland systems, the Tiaozini wetland covers an area of 86,000 hectares and serves as a key node along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway.

In recent years, local authorities have implemented measures such as shoreline restoration, ecological governance, and the creation of high-tide roosting sites for migratory birds, steadily expanding the “circle of feathered friends.”  

This commitment to harmonious coexistence between humans and nature has spurred the growth of bird-watching tourism. The region is now pursuing a high-quality development path that successfully links ecological protection with tourism growth and increased local prosperity.

Each April, the wetland comes alive as spring migration begins. At a monitoring center, wetland manager Zhang Hailong tracks bird movements and breeding patterns. “In recent years, we’ve introduced smart monitoring systems,” he explained. “At what we call the ‘720 Highland,’ we’ve installed 13 panoramic cameras equipped with AI-powered bird recognition, allowing us to monitor bird activities around the clock.”

What exactly is the “720 Highland?” “During the twice-daily high tides, the mudflats are submerged, and birds that feed there need a place to rest,” said Du Hua, head of the administrative committee of Dongtai Coastal Economic Zone.

Starting in 2020, the area transformed a 720-mu (about 48 hectares) former fishpond into an elevated roosting site by reshaping the terrain and restoring wetland ecology, following the principle of prioritizing natural recovery with moderate human intervention. The site effectively serves as a “tarmac” for migratory birds, a fixed high-tide refuge. In the autumn of that year, it hosted as many as 58,000 waterbirds in a single day.

In 2022, restoration efforts expanded to Chuanshui Bay in the northern part of Tiaozini, where aquaculture ponds were converted back into wetlands, creating a larger version of the original habitat. The improved ecosystem has attracted not only large numbers of waterbirds but also wildlife such as milu deer and hares. By December 2025, the Tiaozini area had recorded 420 bird species, including 23 under first-class state-level protection and 74 under second-class state-level protection.

A sightseeing bus service operates regularly along a coastal tourism highway, traveling into the depths of the Tiaozini wetland and stopping beside a lake-like expanse. Amidst interweaving bird calls of varying pitches, large flocks of waterbirds are seen foraging and pacing. 

“That one with the spoon-shaped bill and black face is the black-faced spoonbill. And the elegant black-and-white bird with the upturned bill is the pied avocet,” said bird guide Ding Jianming, effortlessly identifying species for 20 families participating in a bird-watching study tour.

Nearby, a science exhibition hall offers visitors a deeper understanding of coastal evolution through videos and specimen displays.

Stepping outside at low tide, visitors were treated to a spectacular scene: flocks of birds taking off from the “720 Highland” and flying toward the exposed mudflats to feed. 

“It’s breathtaking,” said Pan Jing, a tourist from Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province. “I discovered this hidden gem last autumn and brought my whole family here this spring.”

“The Yellow Sea mudflats have become a ‘goldmine’ for eco-tourism,” said Chang Wei, deputy director of the administrative committee of the Dongtai Coastal Economic Zone. 

Leveraging its ecological assets, the region is diversifying its offerings. It has established a professional bird-watching system, including curated routes, high-powered binoculars, trained interpreters, and expert bird guides, as well as immersive virtual reality and 3D experiences. Concurrently, it is expanding eco-tourism formats by introducing bird-watching competitions, photography tours, and sporting events such as wetland cycling races, triathlons and half marathons. . This blend of nature, culture, and sport shifts the focus from simple sightseeing to multi-dimensional experiences.

The result is a year-round tourism calendar: bird-watching in spring, coastal foraging in summer, photography camps in autumn, and flamingo spotting in winter. Today, Tiaozini attracts around 1 million visitors annually.

As bird-watching tourism takes off, local communities are also reaping the benefits.

Badou village in Jianggang township, just north of Tiaozini, is now a lush and picturesque destination. 64-year-old Kong Xiangjin comes from a long line of fishermen. In 2021, he renovated an unused house and opened a guesthouse called “Old Fisherman’s Inn,” which has since seen steadily growing business.

A few years ago, the village has also set up a tourism company. In addition to livestream e-commerce, it has introduced souvenir gift boxes featuring local delicacies such as marinated shrimp and raw pickled crab. 

More recently, it has developed creative cultural products inspired by the wetland, such as canvas bags themed on local clams, power banks modeled after mud snails, and T-shirts featuring the endangered spoon-billed sandpiper.

“Eco-tourism has opened up a new path for boosting rural incomes,” says Liu Jun, Party head of Jianggang township. With homestays as a key driver, the township has expanded related industries including local dining, cultural merchandise, and specialty agricultural products. 

Today, more than 1,500 people in the township are engaged in tourism, and in 2025, the township welcomed over 100,000 visitors, generating more than 5 million yuan ($733,327) in additional income for local residents.

By Fang Min, Jiang Xuehong, People’s Daily

China has taken a major step forward in mobile healthcare by launching a domestically developed “flying eye hospital,” bringing high-quality ophthalmic services directly to patients in need. The initiative represents a new model of integrated air-ground medical support, designed to extend advanced care to remote and underserved areas.

On the morning of Dec. 18, 2025, at Zhengzhou Xinzheng International Airport in Zhengzhou, central China’s Henan province, a homegrown C909 aircraft emblazoned with the words Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center Flying Eye Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University was parked quietly on the tarmac. Inside, instead of rows of passenger seats, the cabin had been transformed into a fully functional ophthalmic surgical suite.

Maintained at a constant temperature of 22 degrees Celsius, the cabin was divided into a waiting area, a buffer zone, and an operating room. It was equipped with surgical microscopes, sterile workstations, patient monitors, and remote consultation terminals, forming a standard ophthalmic operating environment adapted for aviation conditions.

“We spent three years refining the system to meet the standards of a ground-based operating room,” said Lin Haotian, director of the Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center and president of the flying eye hospital. “Not only is the equipment comprehensive, but the standards are rigorous. Before any procedure, the cabin undergoes multiple rounds of surface and air sterilization, followed by at least two rounds of testing over 48 hours to ensure compliance.”

That morning, a patient surnamed Huang, who had developed a cataract due to eye trauma and was experiencing impaired vision and difficulty walking independently, was assisted into the operating room. The surgical team reassured him throughout the procedure, which lasted just 15 minutes.

When the bandage was removed, Huang cautiously opened his eye and quickly realized he could see again. The success of the operation marked the first cataract surgery performed aboard a domestically produced aircraft, underscoring China’s progress in building a flexible, mobile healthcare infrastructure.

“I never imagined I would have surgery on a plane,” Huang said, standing on his own and taking in the cabin around him. “It was fast and effective. I can see again. Thank you!”

According to Lin, ophthalmic procedures are particularly well suited to mobile medical platforms due to their relatively short duration and the high level of equipment integration required. 

In some of the remote regions in China, geographic constraints and limited access to advanced medical facilities have long prevented patients from receiving timely eye care, sometimes resulting in avoidable vision loss. The airborne hospital offers a solution by rapidly delivering specialized services to where they are most needed.

The concept of an airborne hospital is not unfamiliar in China. In 1982, an aircraft operated by the international nonprofit organization Orbis International visited China, introducing advanced medical equipment and expertise that profoundly influenced Chinese ophthalmologists. This experience planted a seed of aspiration: China would one day develop its own flying eye hospital.

Realizing this vision required coordinated efforts, from equipping the aircraft with a 5G-enabled mobile eye clinic system and assembling trained flight crews, to ensuring ground support and building a professional operations team. Today, that vision has entered clinical application.

Following the successful operation in Zhengzhou, the flying eye hospital quickly moved into broader use. 

On March 19, 2026, specialists from the Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center performed eight sight-restoring surgeries aboard the aircraft for residents of Qionghai in south China’s Hainan province. Prior to the surgeries, a 5G-enabled mobile screening vehicle was dispatched to local townships, conducting preliminary examinations for more than 600 people. Patients requiring surgery completed pre-operative checks at local hospitals before boarding the aircraft.

Among the first beneficiaries were elderly patients with limited mobility. For them, the flying hospital brought specialized care directly to their communities, demonstrating the tangible impact of AI-integrated mobile healthcare.

Looking ahead, the domestically developed C909 flying eye hospital will continue serving remote regions across China. Plans include extending operations overseas to deliver vision care to underserved populations while collaborating with local institutions to enhance ophthalmic capabilities through training and technology transfer.

By He Yin, People’s Daily

A national conference on the service sector has recently been held in Beijing. 

Against the backdrop of slowing global economic growth and profound shifts in global trade patterns, China is working to open new prospects for the high-quality development of its service sector.

This strategic push not only underpins China’s own pursuit of high-quality economic growth but also presents substantial new opportunities for global cooperation within the service sector.

A series of high-level policy initiatives have been launched rapidly since the beginning of this year. 

Notably, this year’s Government Work Report proposed to “enhance the capacity and quality of the service sector” and “cultivate the ‘China Services’ brand.” An executive meeting of the State Council called for expanding market access and the scope of opening up with a focus on the service sector. Most recently, the national service sector conference laid out systematic arrangements to upgrade the capacity and quality of the service sector. 

These measures reflect both China’s strategic alignment with fundamental economic development principles and its practical response to structural economic weaknesses. They will inject new vitality into China’s drive to build a modern industrial system and promote high-quality growth.

As a vital component of the national economy, the development level of the service sector serves as a key indicator of a country’s overall economic strength. 

Impressive statistics illustrate China’s steady service industry expansion. In 2025, the value added of China’s service sector exceeded 80 trillion yuan ($11.71 trillion) for the first time, accounting for 57.7 percent of the country’s GDP. The sector contributed 61.4 percent of economic growth and has remained the largest source of employment for more than a decade. 

From thriving winter tourism and immersive travel experiences to grassroots sports events such as “village super leagues” and “city super league” football tournaments, the service sector continues to create new scenarios and stimulate fresh demand. Deeply integrated into daily life, it plays a critical role in industrial upgrading, meeting public needs, and expanding employment. 

Looking ahead to the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030), China’s service sector is expected to surpass 100 trillion yuan in value, indicating substantial potential for further growth.

On a wider scale, the positive spillover effects of China’s service sector expansion and upgrade  are becoming increasingly prominent, strengthening the link between domestic and international circulations.

Two concrete examples highlight this trend.

First, in 2025, China received 35.17 million inbound foreign visitors. The rising popularity of “China Travel” and “Shopping in China” has driven travel services to become the largest segment of China’s service trade, accounting for more than a quarter of the total service trade volume.

Second, China’s total service trade exceeded 8 trillion yuan in 2025. The service sector has become the main channel for absorbing foreign investment, accounting for over 70 percent of the country’s total utilized foreign investment for several consecutive years.

Behind this transformation, from “selling products” to “delivering services,” and from “expanding scale” to “improving quality,” lies the rising level of China’s opening up in the service sector.

In recent years, China has rolled out a series of initiatives to widen service sector access. 

It has fully implemented a negative list for cross-border trade in services, accelerated comprehensive pilot programs for expanding opening up in the service sector, and further expanded pilot openings in fields such as value-added telecommunications, biotechnology, and wholly foreign-owned hospitals.

As a result, the breadth and depth of opening up in China’s service sector have continued to expand. These efforts not only provide the world with a larger-scale service consumption market and attract high-quality foreign services to continuously deepen their roots in China, but also offer more diverse and competitive service supplies to share development opportunities and create growth space with other countries.

With services as a bridge and opening up as a bond, China’s service sector is poised to become more open, innovative, and dynamic. It will continue to forge new frontiers of win-win cooperation with the world and write a new chapter of shared development.

By Liu Shaohua, People’s Daily

China’s rapidly growing e-sports industry is transforming entertainment consumption but also creating diverse range of new jobs. As the sector continues to expand, it is emerging as a key driver of the digital economy and opening up diverse career paths for young people.

A prominent example is Xu Bicheng, known globally by his screen name “Yinuo,” who won an e-sports gold medal at the Arena of Valor Asian Games Version. He first realized his exceptional gaming talent while still in school. In 2019, his club was acquired by a professional gaming club, marking his entry into the fast-evolving world of competitive gaming.

Today, China’s e-sports industry has grown into a vast ecosystem. According to a 2025 report on China’s e-sports industry released by the China Audio-video and Digital Publishing Association, the sector has become a major engine driving digital culture and new forms of consumption. In 2025, China remained the world’s largest e-sports market, with total industry revenue reaching 29.33 billion yuan ($4.3 billion) and a user base of 495 million.

At the heart of this ecosystem are professional players and streamers. In 2019, China’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security officially recognized e-sports players and event managers as new professions.

Unlike casual gaming, professional e-sports is highly structured and competitive. Teams operate with dedicated staff, including head coaches, coaches, and managers. Similar to professional football leagues, the King Pro League (KPL) features only 18 franchised teams, making opportunities for professional players extremely limited.

Yinuo exemplifies this new wave of digital athletes, commanding a massive following among youth. On Chinese short video platform Douyin, he has over 8.4 million followers and 280 million likes, while his Weibo microblog attracts more than 5.3 million followers. His livestreamed matches routinely attract hundreds of thousands of viewers.

The growing influence of e-sports is increasingly recognized by academics. Huang Xinyuan, a professor at the School of Animation and Digital Arts, Communication University of China, noted that e-sports has become integral to young people’s lifestyles. In 2017, the university became the first in China to launch an undergraduate program in e-sports. 

“E-sports is no longer just entertainment. It represents a way of life,” Huang said, recalling the electrifying atmosphere at live competitions.

The industry’s reach continues to expand both online and offline. In 2023, e-sports debuted as an official medal event at the Asian Games. In 2025, the KPL Grand Finals drew over 62,000 in-person attendees, setting a new Guinness World Record for the largest live audience ever at an single e-sports event.

Looking ahead, e-sports will play an even bigger role. The upcoming 2026 Asian Games will feature 11 e-sports events, an increase from seven at the 19th Asian Games held in Hangzhou in 2023.

Behind the scenes, a growing workforce supports live streaming and event broadcasting. Statistics show that live streaming is the primary revenue source for the industry, generating over 23.7 billion yuan in 2025, accounting for 80.81 percent of total revenue.

At the same time, the integration of e-sports with sectors such as culture, tourism, and technology is creating hybrid jobs. Opportunities now span event operations, content creation, data analysis, commentary and hosting, venue management, and merchandise development, forming a employment ecosystem worth tens of billions of yuan across the value chain.

From full-time employment to flexible gig work, e-sports-related careers have become a major option for younger generations. 

A 2024 report on the development of e-sports-related jobs showed that the industry had more than 650,000 full-time positions in 2024, with about 80 percent located in first-tier and emerging first-tier cities. Meanwhile, flexible roles such as “e-sports instructors” are expanding rapidly, providing new digital employment opportunities for young people.

Education is evolving to meet industry demand. In 2017, “electronic competitive sports and management” was listed as new major for vocational schools. Eight years later, China introduced “game art design” as a new undergraduate major. So far, 139 universities across the country offer e-sports-related programs, training more than 40,000 students annually and building a steady pipeline of talent.

Enterprises are also actively involved. According to a representative from the e-sports division of Chinese tech giant Tencent, which also runs many online games in China, initiatives such as talent reserve programs and joint training schemes with universities aim to align education with industry needs. “We hope to transform the popularity of e-sports events into a sustained talent dividend through a mature ecosystem,” the representative noted.

Local governments are also stepping up support. Guangzhou in east China’s Guangdong province aims to become one of the world’s most influential e-sports cities by 2030. Shanghai plans to build globally recognized branded tournaments and attract top international events. Xiamen in Fujian province has introduced policy measures to promote high-quality development of the gaming industry.

Both on and off the screen, China’s e-sports industry is thriving — fueling innovation, creating jobs, and shaping a new generation of digital careers.

By Luo Shanshan, People’s Daily

Nestled along China’s northern border, Inner Mongolia autonomous region boasts a unique geographical advantage: it spans northeast, north and northwest China, connects eight provincial-level regions within the country, and serves as a vital gateway linking China to Europe and Asia.

Recently, China’s State Council issued an overall plan for China (Inner Mongolia) Pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ), bringing the total number of China’s pilot FTZs to 23 and further improving the overall layout of its FTZ network.

Yuan Xiaoming, assistant minister of commerce, stated that the overall plan supports the Inner Mongolia FTZ in leveraging its geographical advantages to fully utilize both domestic and international markets and resources. It prioritizes seven key areas, including developing major trade hubs, enhancing bilateral investment quality, deepening domestic and international connectivity, and facilitating the cross-border flow of production factors.

The blueprint outlines 19 reform measures, such as upgrading goods trade structures and strengthening international logistics services. Its vision is to build the FTZ into an information exchange hub, a transportation and logistics center, a platform for factor and resource allocation, a hub for scientific and technological innovation, and an industrial cooperation center in key fields, thereby linking domestic and international markets while driving regional growth.

Efforts will focus on developing northern international transport corridors to expand global connectivity. In 2025, cargo throughput at Inner Mongolia’s land ports reached 132 million tons, up 8.3 percent year on year and exceeding 100 million tons for three consecutive years.

The overall plan proposes upgrading port infrastructure, strengthening international logistics services such as aviation, postal delivery, and China-Europe freight trains, and exploring smart new cross-border transport corridors, including those featuring autonomous driving.

The FTZ is expected to enhance the development of an open economy and help strengthen China’s domestic economic cycle. In 2025, Inner Mongolia handled 9,557 China-Europe freight train trips, a year-on-year increase of 16.9 percent, accounting for nearly half of the national total. There remains significant room to improve its role in serving the domestic economy and upgrading from a “corridor economy” to a “hub economy” and an “industrial economy.” 

The overall plan calls for deeper reforms to integrate domestic and foreign trade, promoting development in border areas, and improving the well-being of people in border and ethnic regions.

It will also promote coordinated regional development and mutually reinforcing  domestic-international connectivity.

The FTZ will accelerate implementation of the land-sea intermodal “express rail clearance” model, facilitating resource sharing between Inner Mongolia’s Manzhouli Port and coastal ports including Dalian Port and Qinhuangdao Port, so as to optimize logistics networks.

Cross-border cooperation with neighboring countries will expand in agriculture, energy, and ecological governance to build transnational industrial chains. Tailored institutional innovations will strengthen Belt and Road cooperation in infrastructure connectivity, standards alignment, and cultural exchanges, better positioning itself as China’s bridgehead for northern opening up.

“In 2025, Inner Mongolia’s total foreign trade grew 6.4 percent, and notably, border residents’ mutual trade surged by 65.4 percent year on year. These figures demonstrate a solid foundation for developing Inner Mongolia into a highland of opening up along the border,” said Luo Qing, director general of the Department of Commerce of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region. 

The plan includes high-value institutional reforms to upgrade goods trade, revitalize services trade, and foster innovative development of border residents’ trade.

Inner Mongolia is rich in natural resources. How can these advantages be transformed into dividends for modern industrial development?

As a national leader in agriculture, with grain output exceeding 40 billion kilograms for two consecutive years and ranking first nationwide in beef, mutton, and milk production, Inner Mongolia is solidly positioned as a “granary,” “meat base,” and “dairy hub.” It aims to build a major national base for agricultural and livestock products. The overall plan outlines measures to develop eco-friendly agriculture and animal husbandry, promote green food certification, and introduce high-quality breeds and resources.

In the energy and minerals sector, Inner Mongolia leads the country in installed capacity for new energy, coal production capacity, total power generation capacity, electricity transmitted to other regions, and reserves of 20 key minerals. Its technically exploitable wind energy resources account for about 57 percent of the national total, while solar resources make up about 21 percent.

The overall plan proposes improving policies for the consumption and utilization of green electricity, promoting trading of green electricity certificates, and refining standards for equipment recycling to upgrade the energy sector.

At the same time, Inner Mongolia is actively fostering future-oriented industries. As a national hub in China’s integrated computing power network, the region led the country in both total computing power and intelligent computing capacity in 2025. 

The overall plan outlines pilot initiatives including building edge computing centers, conducting AI large model training and applications, and expanding green computing scenarios. These will enable the FTZ to deliver fast, efficient computing services to a wider market.

Furthermore, Inner Mongolia is exploring new growth areas such as biomanufacturing and developing new quality productive forces tailored to local conditions, turning its geographic strengths into opening up advantages and policy benefits into real economic momentum.

By Huang Xiaohui, People’s Daily

Carbon emissions are closely tied to everyday life and lie at the heart of global climate governance. For decades, most accounting systems have followed the methodology of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which attributes emissions to the place of production — who produces, who accounts for the emissions. However, this production-based approach often overlooks the role of consumption.

“The majority of global carbon accounting systems prioritize the production perspective, overlooking consumption,” said Wei Wei, deputy director of the Shanghai Advanced Research Institute under the Chinese Academy of Sciences. 

He noted that the field has long faced challenges such as inconsistent data standards, lengthy accounting cycles, delayed updates, and limited transparency. Achieving a more scientific and equitable method for calculating carbon emissions remains a shared global challenge.

On April 8, the Shanghai Advanced Research Institute unveiled a first-of-its-kind artificial intelligence model designed to track carbon emissions across global production-side, consumption-side, and natural sources. It marks a new breakthrough in China’s efforts in this field and offers a “China solution” to longstanding global challenges in carbon accounting.

Accurate carbon accounting is fundamental. Greenhouse gas emissions are a major driver of climate change. Accurate carbon accounting serves as a key basis for fulfilling international climate commitments, underpinning global carbon pricing and influencing countries’ industrial development and competitiveness.

Traditional systems have notable limitations. For example, in 2024, wind turbines and photovoltaic products exported by China generated about 2 million tons of carbon emissions during the production phase, yet delivered approximately 350 million tons of emission reduction benefits globally during their operational phase. 

“Without a full-cycle accounting approach from production to consumption, such significant contributions remain invisible,” said Lai Xiaoming, chairman of the Shanghai Environment and Energy Exchange.

“The world urgently needs a more scientific and equitable accounting system, one that not only clarifies ‘who emits,’ but also ‘for whom emissions occur,'” Wei said. 

“The new model was developed precisely in response to this need. Rather than overturning existing international frameworks, it builds on the scientific consensus of the IPCC and makes carbon accounting more comprehensive, dynamic, and intelligent,” he added.

Yet calculating carbon emissions in such a comprehensive way is no easy task.

Wei identified four major challenges: the complexity of industrial sectors and high technical barriers; diverse and fragmented data sources with varying update frequencies; long accounting cycles and high labor costs in traditional methods; and insufficient precision, spatial-temporal resolution, and coordination across different accounting approaches. 

Powered by artificial intelligence, the new model addresses these challenges through an integrated three-level architecture of data, algorithms, and computing power.

At the data level, the research team independently developed eight core datasets covering key dimensions such as production-side, consumption-side, natural sources, and carbon tracing. Through collaboration with government departments, industry organizations, and enterprises, the system enables high-frequency data updates and deep integration. It has already aggregated 208 terabytes of multi-format carbon data, forming a high-quality, multidimensional “carbon knowledge base.”

At the algorithm level, the model incorporates a domain-specific large language model with 32 billion parameters, along with conversational and programming interfaces linked to an intelligent database. On this foundation, five specialized intelligent agents have been developed, capable of tasks such as digital simulation and optimization of industrial system processes, trade carbon transfer accounting, life cycle assessment, natural source accounting, and uncertainty analysis.

At the computing level, a high-performance internal server cluster works in coordination with external computing centers to optimize resource allocation and ensure flexible supply. Complex calculations that once took weeks or even months can now be completed in minutes.

According to Wei, the model is the first to integrate production-side, consumption-side, and natural sources into a unified, panoramic framework, enabling systematic and coordinated accounting across multiple methodologies.

The model has already demonstrated its value in several key application scenarios, supporting China’s role in global climate governance and its transition toward green and low-carbon development.

Zhang Xian, director of the Division of Global Environment at the Administrative Center for China’s Agenda 21, noted that the model’s industrial intelligent agent functions like a “digital twin factory,” simulating carbon emission scenarios under different production processes and energy structures. This helps enterprises identify key areas for emission reduction and plan their transition pathways.

Based on the new model, recalculations for 2022 show that when consumption and trade-related carbon transfers are taken into account, greenhouse gas emissions of China, the United States, and Japan were adjusted by -17.7 percent, +15.2 percent, and +7.2 percent respectively, compared with traditional production-side accounting under the IPCC framework. 

These adjustments more accurately reflect carbon emission responsibilities across global supply chains and provide a scientific basis for building a fairer and more balanced international responsibility-sharing mechanism.

The “global carbon ledger” calls for a more precise and equitable “scientific balance.” On that balance, the right to development and the responsibility to protect the planet can be more clearly measured.