May 2010: Chinese CP experts on study tour to Europe
Within the framework of the Asia-Invest Project "Capacity Building and Establishment of Cleaner Production Service Units & Campaigns for the Industry in the Less Developed Regions of China", a group of 23 Chinese Cleaner Production (CP) experts left Beijing for Germany and Austria to investigate the actions for CP in the European industry and to study technologies, management systems and best practice.
The Tour was organized the Clean Technology Centre, the Administrative Centre for China's Agenda 21 and Centric Austria International. The study tour had a duration of two weeks (from 9th to 22nd May 2010); due to the high rank of some of the delegates, not all could attend the full study tour. Two persons joined the group later and 4 had to leave early. The head of the Chinese delegation was Mr. Guo Risheng.
All the members considered that the agenda was well organised and timely executed during the study tour. All of them thought there knowledge and understanding for the European culture and business environment and especially for the idea of Cleaner Production had greatly increased. Throughout this study tour the members learned about current trends and cutting-edge technologies in energy use, heat recovery, energy efficiency, renewable energy sources and environmental management in several European industries. These insights will build a helpful basis while formulating targets and measures for Cleaner Production in Chinese companies.
The group visited eight cities in Germany, Austria and Ireland, and attended more then ten lectures, field trips and site visits in the field of Cleaner Production, Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency, Environmental Technologies and Environmental Management.
All the visited companies prepared fully, welcomed warmly and explained earnestly for the visit. Mr. Wolfgang Weissel, Mr. Rainer Agster, Mr. Mirko Zürker from Centric Austria and Mr. Colum Gibson from the Clean Technology Centre accompanied the group and gave the group an introduction to the policies and actions being taken in field energy efficiency and environmental management. During the trip they also introduced the architecture, history and culture of the cities and last but not least the business culture of Western Europe. All these insights laid a substantial foundation for the completion of the study tour.