On October 16th, the Institute for Sustainable Communities (ISC) released the "Guide for Low Carbon Industrial Development Zones", which is the first guidebook of its kind in China. The guide, which was developed by ISC and sponsored by USAID in light of the current status of low carbon industrial development zones (IDZs) in China, is a set of practical quantitative assessment procedures and technical instructions to establish and evaluate low carbon IDZs. The goal of the guide is to provide technological support and useful, informative case studies to guide low carbon IDZs throughout China. 

In an effort to promote this unprecedented guide, ISC hosted a workshop on the same day entitled “How to Evaluate and Construct Low Carbon Industrial Zones”. Over 60 representatives from industrial zones, universities, and institutes from around the country attended the workshop. The guide has been regarded as an excellent framework for developing low carbon industrial zones in urban areas and contains best practices and fast-track strategies that are directly useful to practitioners in their work.