The United Nations Development Programme and NIO have joined hands on the Clean Parks Project

On August 15, NIO and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) signed the cooperation agreement as the partner of the Clean Parks platform. UNDP joins hands with NIO in respect of environmental protection of nature reserves, capability building of youth, and co-development of standards of ecological investment. ​

Based on this cooperation, NIO will support selected nature reserves by providing smart electric vehicles and building clean energy infrastructure for national parks and nature reserves, so as to build a clean and low-carbon energy circulation system, promote clean energy and sustainable development, and protect the authenticity and integrity of ecosystems.

As part of this initiative, NIO will also work with UNDP to support youth entrepreneurship, encouraging young innovators to explore business solutions to advance biodiversity conservation and ecological protection.

Besides, UNDP will further leverage its expertise and influence in the field of sustainable business investment and allocate various resources to jointly establish relevant standards, guidelines, or catalogs for ecological investment and biodiversity protection together with the relevant stakeholders.

The degrading ecological environment has challenged both social development and human survival. Based on this, at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit on September 25, 2015, 193 UN member states formally adopted the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs aim to address development issues in three dimensions - social, economic and environmental - through an integrated methodology and shift to a sustainable development approach from 2015 to 2030.

The collaboration of NIO and UNDP this time will cover 7 parts, including SDG5: Gender Equality, SDG6: Clean Water and Sanitation, SDG7: Affordable and Clean Energy, SDG12: Responsible Consumption and Production, SDG13: Climate Action, SDG14: Life below Water, SDG15: Life on Land.

William Li, founder, chairman, and CEO of NIO, Lihong Qin, co-founder and president of NIO, Beate Trankmann, UNDP Resident Representative in China, James George, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in China, and Ning Liu, Deputy Director General of Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) attended the ceremony.

William Li, founder, chairman, and CEO of NIO, mentioned that, in the process of advancing our work, we are also considering how to further enhance the contribution of Clean Parks in ecological conservation. Today, it's a great honor to officially have the United Nations Development Programme co-build Clean Parks with NIO, to jointly build a clean and low-carbon energy circulation system in collaborated nature reserves. At the same time, we will support social entrepreneurship to encourage young innovators to explore business solutions to sustainability; and together develop standards, guidelines, and catalogs related to biodiversity conservation and green investment, promoting sustainable business development.

"UNDP has worked in China for over two decades on conservation and climate change together with the central government including the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and other ministries, as well as local governments in more than 20 provinces," said Beate Trankmann, UNDP Resident Representative in China, in the welcome remarks. "The partnership we are launching today looks to carry forward this progress by strengthening ecological conservation in China’s Protected Areas and newly established National Parks, focusing in particular on synergies between biodiversity protection and climate change."

Ning Liu, Deputy Director General of Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE), also highlighted, "We are very pleased to see the United Nations Development Programme as an international agency, and NIO as an energy company, actively cooperating on ecological construction together, valuing nature reserves and collaborating to promote biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation."

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) works in about 170 countries and territories, helping to end poverty, reduce inequalities and exclusion, as well as protect the planet, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Together, these efforts aim to ensure that improvements in human wellbeing remain within ecological boundaries. We also help countries to develop policies, leadership skills, partnering abilities and institutional capabilities, as well as build resilience, in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

Picture source: UNDP, Winter Gecuo Na Lake by Youchong Li

UNDP has been working in China for over 40 years, partnering to advance various phases of China’s development. UNDP continues to be at the forefront of initiatives with China both to achieve the SDGs domestically and through China’s global cooperation. As one of the leading international agencies of the Global Environment Fund (GEF) in the field of environmental conservation and biodiversity in China, UNDP has implemented 24 GEF biodiversity projects in cooperation with the Chinese government since 2005. The projects have covered several hot spots and key areas of biodiversity conservation , including wetlands, oceans, agriculture, protected areas, national parks, genetic resources access and benefit sharing, ecological compensation, disaster response, etc. In 2019, UNDP partnered with the Chinese government to develop and implement the GEF China’s Protected Area Reform (National Parks) planning project, including the China National Parks Institutional Innovation Project and four other sub-projects, with a GEF funding of $21 million. The project aims to reform China's natural reserves and innovate mechanisms, establish effective national park systems, increase the protected area of nature reserves, enhance the effectiveness of nature reserve management, and sustainably contribute to biodiversity conservation in China.

Picture source: UNDP, Dashanbao Reserve by Yuanjian Zheng

Clean Parks, a global ecological co-construction initiated started by NIO in alignment with the brand's guideline philosophy of Blue Sky Coming, is the world’s first open platform started by a car company in pursuit of supporting construction and protection of national parks and nature reserves. 

The project has already built cooperation with Three-river-source National Park, National Park of Hainan Tropical Rainforest, and Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park; it has also launched ecological conservation projects in Xisha Islands, Qomolangma National Nature Preserve, Xiangshawan in Inner Mongolia, and Selim Lake in Xinjiang.

This July, as the ecological co-constructor, Clean Parks supported the COP15 Youth Scientific Expedition Hainan Project initiated by the Center for Environmental Education and Communications (CEEC) of Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) and Polar Hub, assisting the ecological patrols in the Dongzhai Port National Nature Reserve.

This time, NIO and UNDP have partnered up. We expect both sides to utilize their resource advantages and jointly strive for a sustainable and better future. Together we can embrace the Blue Sky Coming!