On the afternoon of September 10, 2025, reporters learned from the "Advisory Meeting on Building Green Internationalized City" in Yunfu City, that after multiple rounds of rigorous international review, Yunfu City was officially selected as an ‘Integrated Pilot City for Demonstration Zone of UN Guidelines for Sustainable City’ at the end of August. Arab Hoballah, Senior Advisor to the UN Centre for Regional Development, Ex-Chief of UNEP, and Chairman of the Management Committee of SUC Programme, presented the pilot certificate to Yunfu City on site. Lu Rongchun, Secretary of the Yunfu Municipal Party Committee, and municipal leaders including Liang Lixian and Yang Xiaoting attended the meeting.
Liang Donghai, Deputy Mayor of Yunfu City, receive the Certificate
UN SUC Guidelines for Sustainable Cities and Communities (referred to as "SUC Guidelines ") were developed by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), with the participation of over ten institutions at home and abroad including the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, the United Nations Office for Sustainable Development, and the UN Centre for Regional Development. Released globally as an official UN document in 2018, the SUC Guidelines represent the current highest international benchmark for the sustainable development of cities and communities worldwide.
The promotion and application of these standards in China were supported by official replies from the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development (MOHURD) in conjunction with the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE), following a proposal submitted at the 2019 National People's Congress (NPC) and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee and subsequent filing with the General Office of the State Council. To date, more than ten Chinese cities and communities—including Yantian (Shenzhen), Quzhou (Zhejiang), Yan'an (Shaanxi), Tianxin (Changsha), Xinyang (Henan), Fuzhou (Fujian), Yueyang (Hunan), and Changxing (Zhejiang)—have launched pilot projects under the SUC Guidelines. Some of these pilots have achieved significant outcomes and innovative breakthroughs, winning high recognition from relevant UN agencies, central government ministries, and local governments at the provincial and municipal levels. Starting from 2021, the SUC Guidelines Pilot has been officially listed into the "UN SDG Good Practices" by UNDESA and promoted for implementation globally.
At the Advisory Meeting, Yunfu City provided a comprehensive overview of its goals, progress, and strategic plans for advancing green internationalization across four key areas: cities, communities, industries, and international cooperation. It also presented details regarding the indicator system, implementation plan, development framework, and key objectives for building a "First Pilot Area" as the UN Guidelines. Experts including Arab Hoballah (Chairman of Management Committee of SUC Programme), Laurie Buys (Chairman of the International Expert Committee of Active Ageing & Age-Friendly Cities), and Li Xiang (Executive Director of the SUC Programme) conducted in-depth exchanges with Yunfu. Drawing on their on-site visit and research in Yunfu, the experts offered insights on how the city can leverage its strengths in culture, ecology, location, and resources to advance the development of a green internationalized city and a "UN Demonstration Zone of Guidelines for Sustainable City" in an all-round manner.
Arab Hoballah, Ex-Chief of UNEP& Chairman of the Management Committee of SUC Programme
Arab Hoballah stated that Yunfu City boasts abundant cultural and industrial resources, attaches great importance to the integration of urban humanistic landscapes and natural landscapes, and is even the first city in Guangdong Province to put forward clear goals and strategic plans for building a "Green Internationalized City". Over the past few years, Yunfu has made unremitting innovations and practices in various fields of urban sustainable development, achieved many outstanding results, and some of its practices are worthy of learning and emulation by cities around the world.
At the same time, Yunfu also has great potential for improvement in such fields as reducing energy consumption per unit of GDP, digital city construction, non-fossil energy consumption, developing a green economy, and resource recycling. It can conduct exchanges and learn from cities like Copenhagen (Denmark), Andernach (Germany), and Singapore.
Hoballah pointed out that for Yunfu, building a "UN Demonstration Zone of Guidelines for Sustainable City" is accompanied by both challenges and opportunities, with broad space for development and great potential for achievements. The UN SUC Programme Management Committee will give full play to its advantages, provide experience and references, help Yunfu scientifically develop phased goals for urban sustainable development and pilot action plans, and assist Xinxing County of Yunfu in taking the lead in advancing various tasks related to the construction of the "First Pilot Area" for UN Guidelines. This aims to ensure that Yunfu will make breakthroughs and even surpass international benchmarks in some key areas of urban sustainable development in the next few years, and build a green internationalized city at a higher level.
Laurie Buys, Chairman of the IECAFC
Laurie Buys proposed that Yunfu should guide its urban construction and development with the concept of "co-creation". In the process of advancing the construction of a green internationalized city and the pilot building of the Demonstration Zone for SUC Guidelines, the city should attach greater importance to integrating economic development with culture, pay more attention to the opportunities and challenges brought by population aging, fully consider the needs of groups of different age groups including the elderly, middle-aged and young people, and mobilize more social forces to participate in the joint construction and co-creation of a green, livable, healthy and age-inclusive sustainable city.
Li Xiang, Executive Director of SUC Programme
Li Xiang stated that through over a year of strategic planning and preparation, Yunfu City has become the first pilot city to comprehensively implement demonstration projects across urban, community, and industrial dimensions since the SUC Guidelines were officially released in 2018. Over the next two years, the city is poised to achieve multiple groundbreaking advancements in establishing an internationalized urban sustainability management system, piloting "Future Communities" initiatives for urban-rural integration, and fostering emerging industries and future-oriented development. These efforts will set new provincial benchmarks in both "green innovation" and "deep internationalization".
Lu Rongchun, Secretary of the CPC Yunfu Municipal Committee and Director of the Standing Committee of the Municipal People's Congress
On behalf of the Yunfu Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government, Lu Rongchun extended a sincere welcome to Chairman Arab Hoballah and his delegation, expressing gratitude for the experts' concern and support for Yunfu's economic and social development. He stated that in the new era and on the new journey, the Yunfu Municipal Party Committee has firmly anchored its vision of comprehensively building a "Better Yunfu of Six Aspects," focusing on internationalizing green foundations, distinctive cultural features, advantageous industries, business environments, and living standards. Efforts are being made to transform Yunfu into a green international city connecting Guangdong with RCEP and Belt and Road partner countries, enabling Yunfu to embrace the world through service integration into the new development paradigm. The inclusion of Yunfu in the "Demonstration Zone" pilot marks a milestone in Yunfu's development history. It also fully demonstrates the widespread recognition from domestic and international communities regarding Yunfu's commitment to building a green international city, as well as the full affirmation of Yunfu's unwavering commitment to ecological priority and green development. We hope relevant institutions and experts will continue supporting Yunfu's pilot construction, jointly creating a modern people-oriented city model for sustainable development; assist in building Yunfu's "Future Community" as a sustainable model; support Yunfu's industrial green transformation and international cooperation to establish a modern industrial system with Yunfu characteristics; and leverage Yunfu's global vision to jointly plan new sustainable development pathways featuring international perspective, Chinese characteristics, and local features. The Yunfu Municipal Party Committee and the municipal government will take the opportunity of carrying out the pilot project of "UN Sustainable City Standard Demonstration Zone" to implement all specific tasks and strive to explore and form a replicable and popularizable "Yunfu experience".
Senior officials of Yunfu City, including Xie Sijia, Liu Wangxian, Xie Yuehao, Liang Donghai, and Su Quanxi, attended the meeting, with leaders from relevant municipal departments and county (city, district) governments in attendance. Xinxing County was officially designated as a "Fist Pilot Area".
According to reports, Yunfu City's international pilot construction initiative aims to implement President Xi Jinping's important discourse on "internationalized" urban development and "modern people-oriented cities." With support from domestic and international institutions, the city will comprehensively apply the UN SUC Guidelines while conducting localized innovations. Focusing on three key dimensions—urban development, community growth, and industrial clustering—the project will establish an international sustainable development indicator system and strategic plan, implement key tasks through an international management framework, and build high-level global partnership platforms. These measures will drive high-standard urban development, promote high-level openness, and create a new model of green international demonstration city with distinctive development themes and innovative features. As part of the pilot program, Yunfu City will participate in the International Forum on Cultural Innovation and Urban Sustainable Development and UN training session in Istanbul in late November, marking the first global release of its pilot indicator system, implementation plan, and strategic blueprint.