Ordos -- in North China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region -- was awarded the title of China's Most Ecologically Competitive City on Sept 20 at the 2020 China International Ecological Competitiveness Summit held in Hulunbuir city.

The summit has been held for eight sessions since 2008 and has become an important platform for international dialogue and practical cooperation on the environment. 

This year’s summit -- with the theme "Innovative and Green Development, Jointly Building a Bright Future" -- aimed to explore new paths for creating and developing a green civilization.

Tsetsenbileg, the mayor of Ordos, who officially received the award, said that the entire area administered by Ordos lay in the Yellow River Basin. He said the city was not only an important part of the environmental security barrier in the northern borders of China, but was also one of the country's important energy hubs.

In recent years, Ordos has carried out desertification prevention and control, promoting pollution and developing a modern energy economy. 

Officials said it had embarked on a road of development that continues to improve the environment, sustaining economic and social development and the well-being of its residents.

The mayor pointed out that Ordos was currently developing itself as a national sustainable development agenda innovation demonstration zone, with the theme of "desertification prevention and green development". 

He said the city will make every effort to become a global model for desertification prevention and control, as well as a leading national energy development zone and a pioneering zone for the integration of grassland culture and tourism.