Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng (right) receives his Leaders of Living Planet Award from James Leape, director general of the World Wide Fund for Nature, June 4, 2010.

Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng received a Leaders of Living Planet Award from the World Wide Fund for Nature for leading the city onto a low-carbon development path, June 4, 2010.

The award recognizes individuals who have made a major difference in helping the world move toward sustainability and addressing the challenges of conservation.

"Shanghai has made serious commitments to the sustainability of the city, and Mr Mayor has been an important leader in moving the city in that direction," said James Leape, director general of the WWF, the world's largest non-governmental environmental protection organization.

Leape said that in the past few years, Shanghai honored its commitment to sustainability through the development of building codes, for example in the creation of low-carbon pilot zones.

The city also invested in the conservation of the ecosystem upon which the city depends, such as conserving the city's water sources, and its wetlands that are important to protect the city from storms and flooding.