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China’s carbon neutral goal
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China opens big data centre in support of UN’s Sustainable Development Goals while Beijing clamps down on data at home

  • A big data research centre announced last year has launched with the aim of supporting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals
  • While supporting Beijing’s push for carbon neutrality, the new centre’s promise for data sharing is clouded by the government’s clampdown on data at home

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China’s new International Research Centre of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals promises to share data with other countries as Beijing has introduced a more stringent data governance regime at home. Photo: Shutterstock
Xinmei Shen
China’s new big data research centre dedicated to sustainability has officially opened its doors, adding a new tool to Beijing’s efforts to support the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals while the government is also ramping up efforts to control other types of digital data.

Chinese President Xi Jinping first announced plans for the International Research Centre of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals last September at the UN General Assembly. Since then, Beijing has passed two new laws governing data security and personal information, juxtaposing China’s desire to tightly control data at home while welcoming international collaboration.

To help meet the UN’s goals, China has pledged to reach peak carbon emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060.

The centre, which operates under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), is meant to contribute to these goals by sharing public data products and services to aid other UN members. The centre uses data compiled by the academy’s Big Earth Data Science Engineering Project, said Guo Huadong, the centre’s director and an academician at the CAS, when the centre was announced last year.

The launch of a new centre dedicated to big data comes amid an effort to clamp down on data at home, which has drawn global attention over new rules expected to further restrict the flow of data across borders.
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