(Yicai) June 6 -- More than 600 companies from 14 countries and regions are showcasing their latest solutions to stop global warming at the 2024 Shanghai International Carbon Neutral Technology, Products and Achievements Expo, also known as the Carbon Neutrality Expo.

Firms display technologies and services such as virtual power plants, green finance, and sustainable development schemes at the four-day expo that began yesterday, Yicai learned.

Huangpu, a district of the eastern city, is demonstrating its digital platform to monitor carbon emissions, including task management and application scenarios. The district launched a virtual power plant project in 2016 and so far almost 160 buildings are connected to the network of decentralized power sources with an accumulated power scheduling of 500,000 kilowatts.

The local branch of Bank of China is showing its carbon inclusion scheme to offer financial services to small and micro enterprises in the sector of environmental protection. It was the first lender to start a business of carbon emission rights pledging combined with policy guarantees in the city.

Even manufacturing could go greener. For example, Germany's BASF brought its novel invention of a paper cup that has a high-performance water-resistant coating to the event to enhance recycling. Moreover, it showcases the world's first electrically heated steam cracking furnace which could generate at least 90 percent less emissions than traditional steam crackers used to make chemicals.

Eco-friendly technologies can make production more efficient. Expo visitors can learn how Shanghai No. 1 Biochemical and Pharmaceutical uses a novel manufacturing method to reduce the area required for sulfonation to produce tanshinone by 97 percent, make the process as fast as two and a half minutes instead of 120 mins, and cut the amount of wastewater by more than half.

Moreover, visitors can study how Baoyue Carbon and Technology Development uses carbon capture and storage systems to turn carbon dioxide into dry ice used in food and consumables at home and abroad.

Editors: Zhang Yushuo, Emmi Laine