The European Union and China have signed an agreement to collaborate on a new low carbon city progaramme.

Climate-KIC, the EU’s main climate innovation initiative will work with Tianjin, the fourth largest city in China, on projects that aim to boost sustainable growth, with plans for pilot projects on green building retrofit and ‘smart city’ systems.

The agreement was signed in Beijing last week during the EU-China Summit.

Mary Ritter, Climate-KIC CEO said: “Chinese cities are on the frontline in facing the combined challenges of climate change, sustainable development and demographic change. How China urbanises in the coming decades is critical for China and the wider world.”

The EU is China’s biggest trading partner while China is the EU’s largest source of imports.