At the 9th APEC Energy Ministers Meeting (EMM9), which was held in Fukui, Japan on 19 June 2010, focusing on the theme “Low Carbon Paths to Energy Security”, the Ministers observed that “Introduction of low-carbon technologies in city planning to boost energy efficiency and reduce fossil energy use is vital to manage rapidly growing energy consumption in urban areas of APEC”. Responding to this observation, they called for the APEC Energy Working Group (EWG) to implement an APEC Low-Carbon Model Town (LCMT) Project “to encourage creation of low-carbon communities in urban development plans, and share best practices for making such communities a reality”.

The APEC LCMT project consists of three activities, namely, i) development of the“Concept of the Low-Carbon Town ”, ii) feasibility studies（hereafter “F/S”）and iii) policy reviews of planned town and city development projects. The LCMT Project will be a multi-year project. In the first phase of the LCMT Project, an initial version of the “Concept of the Low Carbon Town” was developed and F/S and policy review for the Yujiapu CBD (Central Business District) Development Project in Tianjin, China was provided. In the second phase of the LCMT Project, the “Concept of the Low Carbon Town” was refined as a Second Edition, which mainly focused on “resort area”, and F/S and policy review for the Samui Island in Thailand was provided as same procedure as previous phase. In the third phase of the LCMT Project, the “Concept of the Low Carbon Town” was refined as a Third Edition, which mainly focused on “redevelopment of the existing area”, and F/S and policy review for Da Nang in Viet Nam was provided as same procedure as previous phases.