Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, April 22. Jointly build a community of human and natural life
——Speech at the "Leaders' Climate Summit"
(April 22, 2021, Beijing)
Xi Jinping, President of the People's Republic of China
Dear President Biden,
Dear colleagues:
It is a great pleasure to attend the Leaders' Climate Summit on the occasion of "Earth Day" and thank President Biden for the invitation.
I would like to take this opportunity to have an in-depth exchange of views with you on the issue of climate change, to discuss strategies to address the challenges of climate change, and to seek a harmonious coexistence between man and nature.
Since mankind entered the era of industrial civilization, while creating huge material wealth, it has also accelerated the grabbing of natural resources, breaking the balance of the earth's ecological system, and deep-seated contradictions between man and nature have become increasingly apparent.
In recent years, climate change, loss of biodiversity, increasing desertification, and frequent extreme weather events have brought severe challenges to human survival and development.
The continuous spread of the new crown pneumonia epidemic has made the economic and social development of various countries worse.
In the face of unprecedented difficulties in global environmental governance, the international community must take unprecedented ambitions and actions, bravely take responsibility, and work together to build a community of human and natural life.
——Insist on harmonious coexistence between man and nature.
"Everything gets its own life, and each gets its own life." Nature is the cradle of all living things, including humans, and is the basic condition for human survival and development.
Nature has nurtured and nurtured mankind. Mankind should take nature as its root, respect nature, conform to nature, and protect nature.
Disrespect for nature, violate the laws of nature, will only suffer natural revenge.
Nature is systematically destroyed, and human survival and development have become water without a source and wood without a root.
We must protect nature and the ecological environment as we protect our eyes, and promote the formation of a new pattern of harmonious coexistence between man and nature.
——Insist on green development.
Green water and green mountains are Jinshan Yinshan.
Protecting the ecological environment means protecting productivity, and improving the ecological environment means developing productivity. This is a simple truth.
We must abandon the development model that damages or even destroy the ecological environment, and abandon the short-sighted approach of sacrificing the environment in exchange for temporary development.
It is necessary to conform to the general direction of modern technological revolution and industrial transformation, seize the huge development opportunities brought by the green transformation, and take innovation as the driving force to vigorously promote the transformation and upgrading of the economy, energy, and industrial structure, so that a good ecological environment becomes the sustainable development of the global economy and society. support.
——Insist on systematic governance.
Mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes, grasses and sand are an indivisible ecosystem.
Protect the ecological environment, and you can't heal your head and feet.
We must consider the various elements of the natural ecology in accordance with the internal laws of the ecosystem, so as to achieve the goal of enhancing the circulation capacity of the ecosystem and maintaining the ecological balance.
——Adhere to people-oriented.
The ecological environment is related to the well-being of the people of all countries. We must fully consider the people’s yearning for a better life, their expectations for a good environment, and their responsibilities to future generations, and explore the synergies of protecting the environment and developing the economy, creating jobs, and eliminating poverty. In the process of green transformation, we will strive to achieve social fairness and justice and increase the sense of gain, happiness, and security of people in all countries.
-Adhere to multilateralism.
We must adhere to the principles of international law, fairness and justice as the main thrust, and effective action as the orientation, safeguard the international system with the United Nations as the core, follow the goals and principles of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Paris Agreement, and strive to implement them The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development; to strengthen our own actions, deepen partnerships, and enhance the level of cooperation, so as to learn from each other and achieve mutual benefit and win-win results in the new journey of achieving global carbon neutrality.
We must work together and do not blame each other; we must persevere and do not make changes every day; we must keep our promises and do not speak without words.
China welcomes the return of the United States to the multilateral climate governance process.
China and the United States have just issued the "Joint Statement on Response to the Climate Crisis." China looks forward to working with the international community, including the United States, to promote global environmental governance.
-Adhere to the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities.
The principle of common but differentiated responsibilities is the cornerstone of global climate governance.
Developing countries are facing multiple challenges such as fighting the epidemic, developing the economy, and coping with climate change.
We must fully affirm the contribution of developing countries to climate change and take care of their special difficulties and concerns.
Developed countries should show greater ambitions and actions, and at the same time effectively help developing countries improve their ability and resilience to respond to climate change, provide financial, technical, and capacity building support to developing countries, avoid setting up green trade barriers, and help them accelerate green Low-carbon transition.
Dear colleagues!
Chinese civilization has always advocated the unity of nature and man, Tao follows nature, and pursues the harmonious coexistence of man and nature.
China has written the concept of ecological civilization and the construction of ecological civilization into the "Constitution of the People's Republic of China" and incorporated it into the overall layout of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
China is guided by the idea of ecological civilization, implements the new development concept, takes the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development as the lead, takes energy green and low-carbon development as the key, and adheres to the ecological priority, green and low-carbon development path.
Last year, I officially announced that China will strive to achieve carbon peaks by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060.
This is a major strategic decision made by China based on the inherent requirements of promoting the responsibility of building a community with a shared future for mankind and achieving sustainable development.
China promises to achieve the time from carbon peak to carbon neutrality, which is far shorter than the time taken by developed countries, and it requires hard work from China.
China has incorporated carbon peaking and carbon neutrality into the overall layout of ecological civilization construction, and is formulating a carbon peaking action plan, carrying out carbon peaking actions extensively and in-depth, and supporting qualified localities, key industries, and key enterprises to take the lead in reaching the peak.
China will strictly control coal power projects, strictly control the growth of coal consumption during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, and gradually decrease during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period.
In addition, China has decided to accept the "Montreal Protocol" Kigali Amendment, strengthen the control of non-carbon dioxide greenhouse gases, and will also initiate online trading on the national carbon market.
As a participant, contributor, and leader in the construction of global ecological civilization, China firmly practices multilateralism and strives to promote the construction of a fair, reasonable, and win-win global environmental governance system.
China will host the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in October this year, work with all parties to promote global biodiversity governance to a new level, and support the 26th Contracting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change The party meeting achieved positive results.
China upholds the concept of "Teaching People to Fish" and through various forms of South-South practical cooperation, we will do our best to help developing countries improve their ability to respond to climate change.
From climate remote sensing satellites in Africa, to low-carbon demonstration areas in Southeast Asia, to energy-saving lamps in small island countries, China’s South-South cooperation on climate change is tangible, tangible, and effective.
China has taken cooperation in the field of ecological civilization as a key content of the joint construction of the "Belt and Road", launched a series of green action initiatives, and adopted a series of measures such as green infrastructure, green energy, green transportation, and green finance to continue to benefit from participating in the joint construction of the "Belt and Road". People of all countries.
Dear colleagues!
"Combining all forces is not enough." The challenges that climate change brings to mankind are real, severe, and long-term.
However, I firmly believe that, as long as we think in one place, work hard together, and help each other in the same boat, mankind will be able to cope with the global climate and environmental challenges and leave a clean and beautiful world to future generations.
thank you all.