Teo Eng Cheong: Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City to help realize China's "dual carbon" goal

Tianjin is an ancient coastal city at least 600 years old located right next to Beijing in North China. It is a balanced blend of old and new, abundant in historical and cultural resources and a major economic center with national impact.

It has witnessed positive outcomes in its efforts to pursue high-quality development, and will continue boosting productivity and seeking new momentum to foster sustainable development.

Following the success of season one,Tianjin releases the secondseason ofTianjin Insight series,which presents a panoramic view of the port city’s evolution and achievements through the eyes of expats living there.

It was in 1992 when Teo Eng Cheong, now CEO of the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City Investment and Development Co., Ltd. came to China for the first time as a tourist，and after more than 20 years, he finally realized his aspiration at that time - to work in China.

“China and Singapore have a very significant bilateral relationship, and so the two countries came together to establish the Tianjin Eco-City…We also hope to attract Singapore companies as well as other international companies to Tianjin Eco-City.”

Since its construction, Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City has attached great importance to the combination of green and low-carbon economic development, highlighting the harmonious coexistence between man and nature. In 2019, the Eco-City was included in the first batch of waste-free city construction pilots in China. It was a representative project of international cooperation.

With 14 years of development, the Eco-City has developed into a resource-saving, environmentally friendly, prosperous, and harmonious green city.

“In China there are‘dual carbon’ goals to reach carbon peak by 2030 and to reach carbon neutrality by 2060. And we will see that being a very key feature of the Tianjin Eco-City in the years ahead. I hope that as China tries to achieve the‘dual carbon’ goal we will play a significant role,” he said.

Over recent years, the Eco-City accelerated the construction of IoT facilities, data aggregation platforms and user-end platforms, and advanced intelligent industry development, attracting leading enterprises like E-commerce Live Streaming Base and iFLYTEK to settle there.

“And today we see smart technologies being applied in Tianjin Eco-City in many different areas. I believe in years ahead, we will see more and more smart devices, more and more smart technologies being applied in the city especially to achieve greater sustainability.”

In 2020, the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City was approved as a national all-for-one tourism demonstration area, and it was promoted as a model of scenery and city integration and smart technology innovation by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China.

“If you look at Tianjin Eco-City, there are various elements that lead to this being one of the most popular places in Tianjin for people to live in…We need to achieve this environment whereby people will be very comfortable living here, working here, and playing here,” he said.

“I hope that going forward, the Tianjin Eco-City will be a leading low-carbon city in China, and I hope that as China grows, Tianjin will play an even more significant role,” he added.