Recently, in the first “Beijing Ecological Civilization Award”, the School of Environment of Tsinghua University was awarded the title of “Advanced Group for the Development of Ecological Civilization in Beijing”, while Professor Wang Shuxiao and Associate Professor Hou Deyi were awarded the title of “Advanced Individual for the Development of Ecological Civilization in Beijing.”
In recent years, the School of Environment has made Beijing’s environmental protection its primary mission. Insisting that scientific and technological development must target the global science frontiers, serve the main economic battlefield, strive to fulfill the significant needs of the country, and benefit people’s lives and health, the school provides solid scientific and technological support services to fight the battle of pollution prevention for “blue sky, clear water and clean soil”, carry out environmental emergency response to new epidemics, and achieve carbon peak and neutrality. It has produced internationally influential innovative results in the fields of water pollution control, air pollution prevention, solid waste recycling, environmental restoration, numerical simulation of the earth system, global change ecology, global environmental change and health, etc., and become an international advanced training base of high-end environmental talent and a high-level scientific research and technological innovation center.
Helping to make Beijing a global model for urban air quality improvement. Focusing on the synergistic reduction of pollution and carbon emissions, the school has made significant innovative achievements in high-resolution pollution source inventory, secondary particulate matter formation mechanism, regional air quality, multi-pollutant control technology and equipment, leading the development and implementation of air pollution control theory, strategy and technology in China, It also undertook the research on the causes and treatment of heavy air pollution in Beijing by making “One Tailored Strategy for Each City” pollution tracking research, which provided guaranteed air quality for major events such as the Beijing Olympic Games, APEC Summit and National Day Parade, achieved significant results in air pollution control in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, and helped Beijing become a successful case of air quality improvement in cities worldwide. The school has been awarded the “Advanced Group for Environmental Protection in Beijing”, and the UNEP “Climate and Clean Air Award” for a team; Some individuals participating in above work have won the Most Beautiful Environmental Science and Technology Worker, and the Beijing “July 1” Medal.
Fully supporting Beijing in its battle for clean soil and water. The school made tremendous efforts in supporting the formulation and top-level design of national and Beijing’s soil pollution prevention policies, provided advice on the formulation of the soil pollution prevention law and Beijing’s regulations on soil pollution prevention, supported the national detailed survey of soil pollution on agricultural land and the survey of land used by enterprises in key industries during the 13th Five-Year Plan period, and took the lead in developing specific assessment methods for the effectiveness of pollution prevention in Beijing. It also carried out scientific and technological research on the systematic management of watershed pollution, strengthened the technology of water quality collaborative security of centralized reclaimed water supply systems and its application, supported the improvement of the water environment in Beijing and Tongzhou water system, and promoted the construction of Concept wastewater treatment plant and other technology demonstration projects and the application of systematic solutions.
Supporting the response to environmental and major emergencies threatening public safety. The school led the completion of a project, the State Council’s joint prevention and control mechanism for major emergency in the environmental field, and carried out environmental source tracing of pathogenic microorganisms, providing scientific support for epidemic prevention and control and resumption of work and production. It has built the Beijing Environmental Frontier Technology Laboratory, the Beijing Key Laboratory for Indoor Air Quality Assessment and Control, and the Interdisciplinary Platform for Air-Ground Integrated Environmental Sensing and Intelligent Response to support the construction of the Comprehensive National Science Centre in Beijing, as well as the development of prototype technologies, real-world verification and industrial application of technical results. Efforts have been made in exploring new mechanisms for the commercialization of environmental scientific and research findings.
Wang Shuxiao
Professor Wang Shuxiao’s long-term research on the causes of heavy air pollution has led to the development of a regional high-resolution dynamic inventory of air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions, made breakthroughs in key technologies for optimizing the synergistic treatment of air pollution and climate change, and optimized the design of air pollution treatment schemes. Her research results were selected as one of the top ten scientific advances in environmental research in 2020, and supported the formulation of the Three-Year Action Plan for the Blue Sky Defense Campaign, the 14th Five-Year Plan for ecological environmental protection, and the action plan for synergistic reduction of pollution and carbon emissions, providing a strong scientific and technological backing for the control of air pollution and the development of ecological civilization in Beijing.
Hou Deyi
Based on China’s major need of soil pollution prevention, Associate Professor Hou Deyi has carried out scientific research and achieved a large number of innovative results which took the lead in the international frontier research in related fields; He also effectively supported the national and Beijing’s soil pollution prevention work by giving advises on the formulation of relevant policies; In addition, he actively participated in the practice of developing ecological civilization in Beijing, as he supported the investigation, risk assessment and remediation of land contamination in Tongzhou, Changping, Shijingshan Districts, and other regions, which contributes a lot to the prevention of soil pollution and the remediation of contaminated soil in Beijing, as well as the development of ecological civilization in Beijing.
The “Beijing Ecological Civilization Award” is the highest accolade in the field of ecological civilization development in Beijing. Every three years, it is presented by the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee and Beijing Municipal People’s Government to the groups and individuals who have made outstanding achievements for Beijing’s ecological environment. It aims to encourage people to pursue advancement, let others learn from them and their experience, and mobilize all sectors of society to join in the development of ecological civilization.
