Ordos turns resource wealth into green growth

Ordos, a coal-rich city in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region, is turning its natural resources into a springboard for green transformation.

Ordos Ejin Horoo International Airport is the world's first zero-carbon airport, with clean energy accounting for more than 90 percent of its energy consumption. It uses more than 21 million kilowatt-hours of wind and solar power annually and has achieved zero fossil fuel use, zero Freon use, and zero cooling-water consumption in its energy supply system.

The airport's achievement reflects Ordos' broader effort to diversify its economy and reduce its reliance on coal, which has long underpinned its growth.

Coal reserves lie beneath about 70 percent of the city's land area. Ordos holds roughly one-sixth of China's coal reserves and one-third of its natural gas. However, such resource wealth can become a liability when an economy depends too heavily on a single industry.

A sharp decline in coal prices and mounting pressure in the property market around 2012 exposed the vulnerabilities of Ordos' traditional growth model, prompting the city to accelerate industrial upgrading and seek new sources of growth.

Diversify beyond coal

Ordos has since worked to extend its coal chemical value chain, develop smart mines, and cultivate emerging industries, including renewable energy and energy storage.

In 2025, non-coal industries accounted for 30.8 percent of the city's added value by industrial enterprises above the designated size, while the added value in the modern coal chemical industry surged 62.4 percent. Clusters spanning wind and solar power, hydrogen, and energy storage are also taking shape.

The strategy is not simply to replace coal, but to use existing industrial capabilities to support the development of higher-value and lower-carbon sectors.

This approach also shows up in the city's efforts to turn ecological challenges into economic opportunities.

Turn desert into an asset

For years, desertification was viewed largely as an environmental and economic burden. The photovoltaic installations in the Kubuqi Desert are helping reshape that perception.

Solar panels generate electricity across the sandy landscape, while vegetation grows beneath them and livestock farming takes place between them. The integrated model combines renewable energy production with ecological restoration and local economic activity, demonstrating how land once seen as a constraint can support multiple uses.

The experience points to a broader lesson for regions undergoing economic transition: traditional resources should be reassessed as technologies and industries evolve. Desert land can support clean energy, just as cold climates can support computing infrastructure and forests can create eco-tourism opportunities.