A view of Huzhou, East China's Zhejiang province. [Photo/hz66.com]

Huzhou was recently rated as "excellent" among cities in Zhejiang in a provincial assessment of efforts to reduce carbon emissions in public buildings.

The same rating was also conferred to two districts – Wuxing and Nanxun – administered by the city.

Huzhou had earlier last month rolled out the nation's first system to evaluate energy consumption efficiency and the carbon emission performances of public buildings.

The system for public buildings, which was built in collaboration with Tsinghua University, offers a reference for the government to slash energy consumption and carbon emissions in public buildings.

Buildings are classified into four grades according to their carbon emissions, which are calculated based on energy consumption data. To date, the data of more than 600 public buildings in Huzhou have been collected during the trial run.

Such a move is necessary as buildings are a major source of energy consumers in China.

Energy consumption and carbon emissions incurred during the operations of buildings take up more than 20 percent of the nation's total, and are increasing at a pace of over 9 percent year-on-year, official statistics show.

In 2020, Huzhou was designated China's first city to pilot the coordinated development between green finance and green architecture.

The city has also unveiled the nation's first online pavilion for green building materials and the first local standard for green buildings.