SHENZHEN, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- China's southern metropolis of Shenzhen has officially launched an incentive program to encourage new energy vehicle (NEV) owners to charge their rides with electricity from renewable sources.

Under the initiative, "Green Car, Green Electricity," NEV owners who charge their cars at any of the 11 green electricity charging stations in the city can receive a personal exclusive green certificate issued by the National Energy Administration (NEA) for every 1,000 kWh of cumulative charging.

On Friday, NEV owners who attended an on-site event at the Lianhuashan supercharging station in Shenzhen were each awarded a "Green Car, Green Electricity" badge and a charging card valued at 50 yuan (approximately 7 U.S. dollars) as a reward for their commitment to sustainable driving.

Green electricity refers to electricity generated from renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, and biomass power. The green certificate is a trading certificate issued by the NEA.

China introduced the green certificate system as a pilot program in 2017. By December 2023, the NEA issued the initial batch of green certificates. According to the latest data, from January to June 2025, the NEA issued more than 1.37 billion green certificates, and in the meantime, 348 million green certificates were transacted across the country.

Currently, 11 charging stations in Shenzhen supply 100 percent green electricity through green electricity trading and other means, said Cheng Kun, an executive at the Shenzhen power supply bureau of China Southern Power Grid. The green electricity is derived from several provincial regions.

"This is an authoritative proof of the owner's support for green and low-carbon development and their contribution to environmental protection," Cheng said.

In March of this year, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the NEA, and three other departments released guidelines to promote the high-quality development of the green electricity certificate market. These guidelines emphasize the importance of "promoting green charging piles and supporting NEVs in adopting green electricity." The "Green Car, Green Electricity" initiative was launched as a response to the guidelines.

Shenzhen is one of several pioneering cities leading the way in powering its NEV fleet with green electricity.

At a NEV charging station in Jingjiang City, located in east China's Jiangsu Province, the electronic screen on the charging piles displays a message stating, "The electricity being charged is 100 percent green electricity," aimed at raising public awareness.

"I used to only focus on how quickly I could charge my vehicle, but now I can also see the environmental contributions I'm making," said NEV owner Wang Xiaodong. Pointing to the green electricity traceability certificate on his mobile phone, he added, "Look! The electricity powering my car comes from an offshore wind farm in Yancheng (a city in Jiangsu)."

Using green electricity on highways not only brings environmental benefits but also encourages the consumption of new energy among local consumers. According to an executive from the State Grid Jiangsu Electric Power Company, over 200 charging stations at highway service areas throughout Jiangsu have achieved a 100 percent utilization rate of green electricity.

Beijing announced in May last year that the city would "vigorously promote the practice of charging NEVs with new energy sourced electricity" and make innovative steps in exploring transaction mechanisms that boost NEVs' consumption of green electricity.

China has committed to peaking its carbon emissions before 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality before 2060. The country has vigorously promoted the use of renewable energy. By the end of May, the country's installed renewable energy capacity reached 2.09 billion kilowatts, more than double the figure at the end of the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020), Zhou Haibing, deputy head of the NDRC, said at a press conference in July.

Meanwhile, China's NEV market also grows rapidly, with the number of NEVs reaching 31.4 million in 2024, a sharp increase from 4.92 million at the end of the 13th Five-Year Plan period. ■