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Experts on Sunday called for international cooperation while discussing climate change, biodiversity and China’s green development at the just-concluded Eco Forum Global Guiyang 2023.
As China’s only national-level global forum themed ecological civilization, the event, held online and on-site, attracted over 3,200 participants from government, businesses and the academic sector to southwest China’s Guizhou Province. Fourteen consensuses were reached on ecological civilization construction and green development.
The forum, which ran from Saturday to Sunday, focused on seeking the modernization of harmonious coexistence between man and nature and promoting green and low-carbon development.
James George, deputy resident representative of the United Nations Development Programme in China, said solutions in tandem with the Sustainable Development Goals provide a global roadmap that protects the planet, reduces poverty and leaves no one behind, and the forum provides people a chance to share their experience in this.
“We are working closely together with China and all partners globally to develop new innovative development actions. Let us utilize this opportunity to share the best practices and new innovative approaches in China that we can share with the rest of the world for mutual exchange and learning for a better planet for everyone,” he said.
Impressed by China’s green development
Tamas Hajba, senior advisor for China and head of the OECD Beijing Office, told Xinhua that China’s role in tackling climate change is vital. The country is a world leader in the application of renewable energies.
“Even more importantly, China has managed to bring down the prices of renewable energies, in other words, to commercialize renewable energies much faster and much earlier than other countries,” Hajba said.
He also mentioned the importance of international cooperation when addressing environmental issues. “It’s very important that we measure biodiversity loss and exchange information and data with each other, and this is the way how we improve our own policies.”
Erik Solheim, a former executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme, said in a keynote speech at the forum that China has several companies dominating future green industries, some even being established in third-tier small cities.
“Global green competition quite often is good,” he noted, recalling his experience inviting U.S., Japanese and European car industry representatives to a Chinese auto fair in Shanghai earlier this year. “They saw how far all the Chinese electric vehicle companies have come … and that creates good green competition.”
Deputy Managing Director of the Norwegian Institute for Water Research Thorjorn Larssen said he was impressed by the change in Guizhou, as he first visited the city some 30 years ago.
“It’s very impressive to see how the air quality has improved and how fast measures are taken to improve,” he said, adding, “I think China can take an even larger role in global environmental cooperation.”
The scientist also mentioned the project he was quite proud of – the Sino-Norwegian collaboration project on mercury. “We have done a lot of work to map the extent of mercury pollution in China both at the national level and at the local level,” he said, noting they collected data and developed methods to understand the situation.
“I hope China can take a leading role in integrating nature and biodiversity on the international agenda,” said the expert.
New energy vehicles on display at an exhibition that is a part of the Eco Forum Global Guiyang 2023 activities in Guiyang City, southwest China’s Guizhou Province, July 9, 2023. /CFP
China’s promise to the world
China has announced that it will peak carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. To achieve that, the Chinese authorities have introduced a raft of measures to boost the use of renewable energy and reduce carbon emissions.
Remarkable progress has been recorded. Data from the National Energy Administration shows that China’s installed clean energy capacity saw expansion in the first five months of this year. By the end of May, the installed capacity of wind power had risen 12.7 percent year on year to approximately 380 million kilowatts, while that of solar energy stood at about 450 million kilowatts, a year-on-year increase of 38.4 percent.
China has produced over 20 million new energy vehicles (NEV) so far, with the 20 millionth NEV rolling off the production line earlier this month in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province.
China is also the fastest greening country in the world, which can be attributed to the country’s afforestation efforts and ecological protection and restoration.
Official data shows that during 2012-2022, China’s accumulative afforestation area reached about 64 million hectares, while about 11 million hectares of grassland were improved, and more than 800,000 million hectares of wetlands were added or restored.
Danny Alexander, vice president of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), said China’s carbon peak and neutrality pledges, together with it driving forward the climate transition, will be critical contributions to the world, both in terms of emission reductions and experience shared with others.
(With input from Xinhua)
