I agree that international road maps for reducing carbon emissions will ultimately depend on stitching together inspired local initiatives (E. Diringer Nature 501, 307–309; 2013). Good examples are the local pilot schemes set up nationwide in China (see, for example, Nature 498, 145–146; 2013).

The National Development and Reform Commission of China selected five provinces and eight cities in 2010 for the first round of low-carbon pilots, and has now included another province and 28 more cities in the second round. The scheme encourages policy innovation by local governments for low-carbon development and includes timetables for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions.

A survey by my team has revealed that several of these pilots are using innovative measures to upgrade conventional manufacturing and agriculture, to ensure that new industries, buildings and transportation conform with these plans, and to improve energy efficiency and carbon-sink capacity through ecological programmes.