Zhou Di from Wuhan University, left, and Shan Yuli, a research fellow at the University of East Anglia, right, won the prestigious Green Talents Award. (Photo: CGTN)

Two Chinese researchers are among 25 winners of this year's Green Talents award.

Zhou Di from Wuhan University and Shan Yuli, a research fellow at the University of East Anglia won the award for their intensive work to resolve environmental issues.

The award constituted by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), promotes international exchange of innovative green ideas, among young researchers.

Jury selected 25 up-and-coming researchers from among the 736 applicants from more than 100 countries, a BMBF statement maintained. Zhou Di was chosen for her inter-disciplinary work on ecological civilization.

China's ecological civilization concept aims at sustainable development and a solution to resolve the current climate crisis. “For ecological civilization to arise, the environmental rule of law has to cover all environmental issues arising from development, rather than being fragmented and narrowed down to small pieces,” Zhou told CGTN.  

Solutions to resolve the energy-guzzling mega-cities around the world with focus on China won Shan Yuli the coveted award. Shan is also developing a set of methods for composing carbon dioxide emissions inventories for China and its regions.

In a recent study, Shan showcased that China can eliminate up to a whopping 30-percent of carbon emissions – nearly half of its climate pledge – by focusing efforts on the “super emitting” industrial sector in each city. 

“Cities are at the forefront of climate change and are in need of solutions to lower their emissions. The award will help me further my research work and commitment towards sustainable development,” he told CGTN.

As part of the award, winners are given an opportunity to conduct research for three months at any German research institution. “The program strives to intensify international research and development cooperation in sustainable development, especially with threshold and developing countries,” BMBF said.

The awards will be presented to the winners on October 22.