Online platforms aid climate pledges drive

Editor's note: As protection of the planet's flora, fauna and resources becomes increasingly important, China Daily is publishing a series of stories to illustrate the country's commitment to safeguarding the natural world. Called Tanpuhui, the e-commerce company's mechanism, aims to mobilize the general public to adopt green, low-carbon lifestyles via incentives, which are obtained by gains the various Tanpuhui platforms receive from selling carbon credits. Experts said that even though smokestack, or heavily polluting, industries are currently the government's main priority in its endeavors to reduce carbon emissions, the Tanpuhui mechanism has huge potential, given that public consumption has been contributing to increasingly larger emissions in China. For example, a book on carbon neutrality published last year — with Ding Zhongli, a well-known academician from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, among the lead authors — pointed out that carbon emissions from personal consumption amounted to more than 3.7 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2019, almost one-third of the country's total emissions that year. If one consumer refuses single-use cutlery when buying takeout food, it helps reduce carbon emissions by 47.5 grams, while every kilometer of commuting by bicycle rather than car means 250 grams of carbon emissions can be prevented, Tao said.