We often use a lot of natural resources even in situations where we no longer need to do that. For instance, the service “written information” can be provided in a way that makes it available for use by nine billion people. We used to read what Wired magazine now calls “dead forest books”, but e-books are becoming mainstream, together with e-versions of magazines and office documents.

The devices for e-reading often give the reader everything an old book provided, plus many other features. It allows users to be more active, e.g. to share and edit, and it provides support for the reader, such as help with translations and further information. Old books put pressure on the planet, not only because there is a need to cut down forest to make a paper book, but also because of all the energy and resources required to transport and store the old books.

With e-readers it is possible to provide everyone on the planet with instant access to the world's accumulated knowledge in a way that physical books can never deliver. It is important to make sure that the e-readers are sustainable over their lifecycles and that they are multifunctional devices. Open systems that allow all relevant formats to be read are also important.

Nature is a lot smarter than our current technology in many areas. Instead of using high temperatures and brute force, a combination that large parts of the old industrial economy are based on, we can use connectivity and knowledge to learn from and mimic nature. Getting rid of dirt or removing particles that are unwanted can be done in very resource efficient ways if we learn from nature.

Around the world nature is making materials that are stronger and lighter that those we use today. Dirt and particles are removed though processes developed over Millions of years. Nature can do all this without toxic chemicals or the need for high temperatures. Behind such smart solutions you will often find enzymes; these function as organic catalysts that can help achieve very significant efficiency gains.

Increased collaboration, but also new business models and an increased planning horizon, can enable a new smarter production and consumption system. Though strategic investments and initiatives, we can pave the way for a bio-based economy.

Control, design, and new high-quality LEDs can ensure sustainable lighting system solutions. The possibility of planning for a building’s lighting and controlling when light is needed can help reduce the need for electricity for lighting. Today about 19 percent of the world’s electricity is used for electric lighting; add kerosene lamps and other non-electric lights, and it is easy to understand that our current way of providing lighting is one of the greatest sources of greenhouse gases.

New solutions are however already available and beside being up to 80% more efficient new LEDs also allow us to provide light in fundamentally different ways. While CFLs provided a more energy efficient version of the incandescent lamp LEDs open up totally new opportunities to provide the light we want.

LEDs are also enabling much smarter systems, e.g. with batteries and solar panels, around the world. Today these systems are quite marginal, but with smart planning, smart control and a focus on transformative solutions zero carbon lighting systems could become mainstream in the next years both in the developing and the developed world.

Today’s technology for virtual meetings is so advanced that many people who use state-of-the-art technology forget that they are not physically in the same room. In a global world where the need for interaction between different groups is increasing, virtual meetings play an important role. In a not too distant future there may not be any travel agencies, only meeting agencies (where the default suggestion is a virtual meeting, and a physical meeting is booked only if necessary).

A new generation is collaborating as researchers, entrepreneurs, and activists cross traditional borders to address global challenges in ways that would have been difficult, or even impossible, only a few years ago.

International conferences and negotiations without the hassle of always flying are only the beginning. Soon it may be common to (once again) engage in conversation with the farmer who grew the food you bought and with anyone who has been involved in producing the items you buy.

Virtual meetings may have started as a smarter way to do conferences, and this shift alone has resulted in significant reductions of GHG emissions, but virtual meetings could also help accelerate sustainable production around the world by increasing transparency.

In many areas, we keep doing things the same old way, not because that’s the best way but because we’ve created habits and structures that hold us back. In a world with rapid urbanization and with new technologies there is an opportunity to grow food in unconventional ways that support food security, reduce the need for transport, and provide fresh and nutritious food.

With new knowledge, high-rise buildings around the world could become important providers of food, both in standalone structures dedicated to food and in buildings with other uses, such as apartments.

Besides helping to reduce unnecessary transport, vertical farming — and smart city planning that includes food production — can help people become more aware of the need for a circular economy and re-connecting with nature.

With increased transparency and access to data it will be easier for citizens to choose ways that increase their quality of life without putting too much pressure on the planet. While we can make things a lot better, and even shift to new, much smarter ways of doing things, it is also important to ask what we actually want and need.

Much of today’s information and material can be stored in the "cloud" to allow access from any mobile device. Teleworking does not mean "work-at-home" and is not just something for rich office workers in cities. It is the possibility of working wherever is best and avoiding travel when you can get access to documents and information without it.

Many farmers in poor countries can save a lot of time and resources by getting access to information without having to travel to a city far away. Anything from legal documents to help with pesticides can be done with the help of mobile technology.

Today there is no need to keep investing in an infrastructure based on the assumption that every person must move from the home to a physical office every day. Moving a car or other vehicle not only requires a lot more energy, it also requires an underlying infrastructure that is energy intensive.

Teleworking allows people to get things done in a much smarter way. Not only does this save time, money, and energy directly, teleworking also promotes investments in an infrastructure that is very resource efficient.

Buildings are maybe the single biggest climate challenge, but also potentially the biggest opportunity. Buildings have traditionally not been very smart, but converging technologies along with intelligent control systems can allow buildings to become net producers of renewable energy.

Instead of a society where buildings generate about 40% of CO2 emissions, buildings could become part of the solution by not only looking to reduce the emissions, but rather becoming passive buildings that are net producers of renewable energy.

Many different stakeholders and solutions must come together to deliver such a paradigm shift. New materials, better design software, lower prices on renewables and increased connectivity provide us with an opportunity to allow new clusters to be created. Such clusters can already today deliver buildings that are an integrated part of the solution, rather than merely slightly less of a problem.

Resilient agriculture could play a very important role, not just for GHG reductions but also for poverty reduction. Examples already exist where smart organic agriculture, though intensified soil carbon sequestration and compost, can actually help remove carbon from the atmosphere and have a net climate positive impact over the lifecycle. The more we eat such food, the more we reduce carbon in the atmosphere.

Smarter planning and better information to end-customers about climate positive food could help accelerate the uptake of resilient agriculture. It is also important to plan long-term, as fertile soil is easily lost but hard to gain.

Zhe, Limeng, Liang, Zheng Ding, Ye Receiving the transformative step of the day

The green commuting initiative has already delivered important transformative change in the area of transport/mobility.

By bringing government, business and NGOs together in different projects, from high-level pubic events such as the Beijing Olympic and the Shanghai Expo, to engagement use smart ICT technology the project have encouraged the use of transformative low-carbon solutions.

The initiative is particularly interesting, as it created China’s first online platform, “5iGreen”, for personal voluntary carbon emissions reductions.

New smart city solutions in the area of transport/mobility are necessary to ensure low-carbon development. The Green Commuting participation at COP17 is an example of the kind of concrete work that can help the negotiations forward.

The step "Public Private Partnerships for green growth" is supporting transformative solutions in the following four ways:

1. By setting up a new innovative public private partnership with focus on transformative solutions that can deliver a zero carbon economy and linking it to key processes like the EU presidency and G20 in a open and transparent way.
2. By acknowledging and having a strong focus on companies as solutions providers as well as including the gains (not just the costs) during the transition to a low-carbon economy.
3. By approaching leading countries as solution providers for the world with export of smart solutions what is needed. (We expect 3GF will look at the net impact to ensure that reduction in domestic emissions are not moved, but actually solved).
4. By linking the need for a strong binding global framework with leadership in smaller groups.

On behalf of Su Wei, National Development and Reform Commission NDRC, Mr Tian Chengchuan, Division Director, Department of Climate Change, (NDRC) received the diploma for Transformative step of the day