Climate action
Climate Action
Ice cores — cylindrical samples drilled from within glaciers — archive millions of years of Earth’s climate history and the imprint of human activity, earning them the name ‘the Earth’s history book’. Global warming is driving rapid loss of glaciers in the mid- and low-latitudes; more than 20% of China’s glaciers have already disappeared. The planet’s climate archive is being destroyed — irreversibly and beyond repair.
Polar Hub launched the Glacier Memory initiative to make rescue drillings of deep ice cores above 6,000 m from mid- and low-latitude glaciers and preserve them permanently — a precious climate legacy for future generations.
Glacier Memory is Polar Hub’s core program. Over the next decade and beyond, we regard drilling and preserving ice cores, building China’s most representative ice-core repository, and creating a glacier museum as Polar Hub’s unwavering goals.
All of our projects and stories revolve around Glacier Memory, advancing glacier conservation through four pillars: scientific expedition, citizen science, climate communication, and policy advocacy.
Scientific Expedition
Polar Hub has carried out more than thirty scientific exploration, climate change research, and ecological restoration projects across China and in the polar regions, becoming an official partner of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration and the operating organization of the Polar Science Expedition Specialized Committee of the China Association for Scientific Expedition.
It has set multiple world records in scientific exploration and collected scientific samples from all three of the planet’s poles, with projects spanning the Antarctic continent, the Arctic ice sheet, Greenland, and the Tibetan Plateau, across the fields of glaciers, oceans, mountains, and the low-carbon transition.
Citizen Science
The public is a vital force in glacier conservation and climate action. Through initiatives such as Glacier Watch, the Young Scientific Exploration Initiative, and ‘I Do Research on Xiaohongshu’, Polar Hub invites people and young talent from every field to take an active part in the response to climate change.
Climate Communication
Polar Hub’s stories on climate change, biodiversity, and polar glacier conservation have reached more than 1.3 billion people. Through feature films, documentaries, photography exhibitions, online platforms, and popular science books, it has shared its efforts and practice in glacier conservation through scientific expedition and citizen science, and — as a Chinese participant at the UN Climate Change Conference, the UN Biodiversity Conference, and other international conferences — amplified China’s voice on climate action and told the story of China’s environmental protection to the world.
Scientific Expedition
May 2018 – January 2020
Completed the ‘<2°C' journey across the planet's three poles: summited Mount Qomolangma, led China's first polar expedition team across Greenland, and set a world record for the longest solo route from the Antarctic coast to the Pole.
July 2018
Glacier expedition to Muztagh Ata, Xinjiang
October 2020
Joint comprehensive glacier expedition to Amne Machin and the Sanjiangyuan headwaters, Qinghai — the first expedition in China to fly drones to the summit of a 6,000 m+ snow mountain.
April 2021
Founded the Youth Committee for Polar Scientific Expedition
October 2021
Became an official partner of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (UN Decade)
November 2021
Glacier Memory Qiangtang glacier expedition, in partnership with Yunnan University, jointly drilling ice-core samples longer than 200 meters.
2022
2023
2024
April–June Guliya ice-core drilling, Tibet: China’s oldest ice core
July–September Overseas plan: Summit, the highest point of Greenland
Citizen Science
May 2020
Citizen-science sampling platform 1.0 launched, with snow and ice samples collected at Mount Qomolangma’s North Base Camp and Advanced Base Camp, across the Hengduan Mountains, and in Yunnan’s Three Parallel Rivers region.
April 2021
Citizen-science programs: sampling on the north slope of Mount Qomolangma; earthworm and soil sampling with Shanghai Jiao Tong University
July 2021/2022
COP15 youth biodiversity scientific exploration: 20 outstanding young people selected nationwide traveled to Honghe, Yunnan, and Hainan.
December 2022
Launched ‘I Do Research on Xiaohongshu’ with the Center for Environmental Education and Communication (MEE) and Xiaohongshu — 300 million+ impressions and 20 million+ participants.
July 2023
Glacier Watch, the glacier-monitoring mini-program, launched
October 2023
Dagu Glacier Science Exploration Camp
Throughout 2024
‘7+2’ global glacier journey across seven continents and both poles
Glacier Watch field visits
Climate Communication
February 2019
Co-produced the documentary Chasing China’s Extremes with Discovery Channel
November 2019
Thematic exhibition at COP25, the 25th UN Climate Change Conference
April 2020
Earth Day: ‘Beyond the Wilderness — Guardians of Nature’ climate-action sharing session
February 2021
Live-streamed ‘360° Arctic Expedition’ with Kuaishou — 36 million+ participants within one hour
May 2021
Launched the Polar Speaker lecture series
August 2021
Launched free disaster-preparedness courses for young people nationwide
October 2021
‘Meet COP15’ Biodiversity Day special event with the Ministry of Ecology and Environment
2022
Published the youth science book Polar Expedition: Solo Across Antarctica — 18,000 copies sold.
December 2022
Glacier Memory photography exhibition — debut show
2024
H1: Antarctica Solo, China’s first Antarctic documentary film
H2: Glacier Memory photography exhibition