Low-carbon growth has been a highlight at the just-concluded Shanghai World Expo.

While the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit, held late last year, first exposed the Chinese public to the concepts and information about low-carbon growth, the Expo was an epic showcase of miscellaneous low-carbon practices and vision from around the world.

These practices, ideas and institutions, I think, will greatly facilitate Shanghai's quest for becoming a low-carbon metropolis.

The prevailing low-carbon theory argues that socioeconomic development should be delinked from the consumption of fossil fuels and carbon emissions, as fossil fuels are now becoming scarcer by the day.

But a common misconception holds that low-carbon and growth cannot co-exist, and a low-carbon life equates with one of self-imposed penury. In fact, low-carbon is not antithetical to growth per se, but only seeks to prioritize the quality of growth over its pace.

The Expo has demonstrated that low-carbon growth is essentially about improving carbon efficiency in socioeconomic development. The higher the carbon efficiency for a country or a city, the sharper its competitive edge.

Different levels of development among countries and regions mean that they are impacted ecologically to varying degrees. But they all share equal rights to nature's bounty. Hence, the extent to which their economies should be fueled by carbon emissions varies.

For rich nations, which already consume more than their fair share of global energy, any more consumption and emissions will further widen the ecological disparity between the haves and have-nots. Hence, their economies need to be completely weaned off increased carbon intensity.

For the developing world, it cannot help but burn more fossil fuels and discharge carbon dioxide to meet basic needs. That said, these countries also ought to embrace leapfrog green development where possible.