China releases top 10 sci-tech advances in environment for 2024

Marking World Environment Day, China on Thursday unveiled the country's top 10 scientific and technological achievements in ecology and environment for 2024.

The highlighted advances include:

- Response mechanisms of carbon cycling in the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau's permafrost to climate warming

- Evolution patterns and regulation principles of key atmospheric components under climate change

- Development and application of an intelligent multi-element environmental monitoring system with large-model forecasting

- Open-source release of an emission-atmospheric process coupling model

- New global soil microbial carbon estimation formula and its impact on carbon cycling

- Research on patterns and mechanisms of urban land subsidence in China

- Interaction mechanisms between climate change and terrestrial ecosystems

- Progressive ecological restoration theory applied to river ecosystem recovery

- Intelligent flue gas carbon-pollution coordinated reduction technology

- Integrated capacity enhancement-pollution reduction-carbon neutrality framework in the Yellow River Basin

"These cutting-edge achievements demonstrate significant application potential and could provide robust scientific foundations for China's ecological conservation and green, low-carbon development," said Wang Jinnan, president of the Chinese Society for Environmental Sciences, adding that China has maintained global leadership in environmental science publications and technical patents in recent years.

China has established a comprehensive technological support system covering water, air, soil, solid waste and environmental monitoring, achieving self-reliance in key areas to meet national ecological protection needs.

According to Zhang Yuanhang, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, these achievements were selected through rigorous evaluation involving nominations from Chinese academicians, academic institutions, universities and research organizations.

This annual selection, now in its sixth year, has become an important platform for promoting ecological innovation, inspiring scientific research and enhancing public environmental awareness.