Ma Shu (middle), deputy secretary-general of the Guangzhou municipal government, speaks at a press conference on Aug 18, 2023. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong province, is speeding up its efforts to grow into a city of smart new energy vehicles, said a senior local official on Friday.

As one of the country's major car-producing cities, Guangzhou is home to a number of carmakers including Aion and Xpeng as well as joint ventures including GAC Toyota.

Ma Shu, deputy secretary-general of the Guangzhou municipal government, said the city is revving up efforts to develop a smart vehicle sector worth over 1,000 billion yuan ($137.23 billion) to promote high-quality automotive development.

Ma made the remarks on Friday at the press conference on the 2023 automotive carbon neutrality summit, which will be co-organized by the Guangzhou municipal government and the China Energy and Automobile Media Group, a subsidiary of People's Daily.

The summit, which will be held in Guangzhou from Sept 19 to 20, will invite experts to share their ideas about such topics as carbon reductions along the automotive industry chain, NEVs' high-quality development, hydrogen and energy storage, smart and connected vehicles as well as investment in the NEV sector.

Ye Shengji, chief engineer of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, said low-carbon transformation is a time-consuming process, which requires coordinating short-term interests and long-term development.

Companies in the automobile sector should strive to cut emissions in all stages from raw material supplies through production and use to recycling, he said.

He said the automobile sector has worked to explore carbon-cutting methods and practices since China released its goal in September 2020 to peak its emissions before 2030 and realize carbon neutrality before 2060.