China and Germany have a large space for cooperation in the field of green and digital economy

The German Research Center of Tongji University and the Social Science Literature Press jointly released the German Blue Book: German Development Report (2022) (hereinafter referred to as the Blue Book). According to the Blue Book, in addition to traditional cooperation industries such as automobiles, new areas of cooperation have emerged between China and Germany under the impetus of climate change and new technological revolution, and there is huge space for cooperation between the two countries in the fields of green economy and digital economy.
In the field of climate change, the Blue Book mentions that Germany is a pioneer in the field of environmental protection and climate change, and has many advanced concepts and experiences worth learning from China. Addressing climate change is the most potential cooperation issue between China and Germany. Germany hopes to encourage industrial enterprises to develop innovative technologies in climate protection through the price mechanism, adopt climate-friendly production technologies to reduce energy and resource consumption, and limit the expansion of high-carbon emission industries such as cement and steel. Climate change has become an important issue and consensus of the new German government. China is also committed to accelerating the formation of green development mode and building ecological civilization. China, Germany and China share broad common interests in addressing climate change and environmental protection. In September 2020, the leaders of China and the European Union announced the establishment of a high-level dialogue mechanism on environment and climate between China and the EU to build a green cooperative partnership between China and the EU. Two China-EU high-level dialogues on environment and climate will be successfully held in 2021, indicating the direction for bilateral cooperation. The two sides proposed that, first, they will actively carry out green economic and trade and green technology cooperation, mainly including decarbonization in the industrial and electric fields, solving subsidies for inefficient fossil fuels, and green and low-carbon transformation of energy; Second, reach consensus and promise to strengthen cooperation in carbon market, carbon pricing, carbon emissions trading system and other fields; Third, there is also a lot of consensus on global climate governance.
In the field of digital economy, the Blue Book believes that the digital economy is becoming a key force in restructuring global factor resources, reshaping the global economic structure and changing the global competition pattern. For China, the development of digital economy is conducive to promoting the construction of a new development pattern, and has a significant impact on the transformation of traditional production methods. In the face of the impact of digital technology, Germany made early efforts at the policy level to promote the development of digital technology and the digital and intelligent transformation of traditional industries. Bosch, Siemens and other large German multinational enterprises have developed into important global digital and intelligent technology providers. However, the overall degree of digitalization in Germany is less than expected. The lag and chaos in the process of medical information collection and transmission during the epidemic period further exposed the lack of digital infrastructure in Germany. According to the European Union survey in 2021, Germany's digital development level ranks 11th among the 27 countries of the European Union, and the digital economy and digital society index is 54.1, which is only slightly higher than the EU average (50.7).
With the announcement of the establishment of the China-EU Digital Partnership by the leaders of China and Europe in September 2020, the cooperation between China and Germany and the China-EU digital economy has entered a new stage. The 2030 Digital Compass released by the European Union in 2021 outlines a blueprint for the European Union's digital transformation in the next 10 years, aiming to improve the digital skills of the public and cultivate more ICT experts; Establish a safe and sustainable digital infrastructure; Realize the digital transformation of enterprises; Realize the digitalization of public services. At the same time, digital transformation is inseparable from the green economy. Digitalization is the basis for the EU to achieve the "green new deal". To achieve the 2050 carbon neutral goal, the EU must further improve the efficiency of resource use and develop renewable energy. All these need the support of digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, industrial Internet, etc.
According to the Blue Book, China has developed rapidly in the field of digital technology. Big data, artificial intelligence, 5G and other technologies have taken the lead in the world. China adheres to strengthening, optimizing and expanding the digital economy and actively participates in international cooperation in the digital economy. If China and Germany can strengthen strategic dialogue on the basis of respecting their digital sovereignty, they will have broad cooperation space in digital technology and multilateral digital governance cooperation.