Chinanews.com, Dubai, November 11 On the 30th local time, the opening ceremony of the China Corner of the 30th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28) and the side event of "Ecological Civilization and Beautiful China Practice" were held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
The picture shows a group photo of the guests. Photo by China News Service reporter Han Haidan
Huang Runqiu, Minister of Ecology and Environment, Sultan Jaber, President-designate of COP28, Xie Zhenhua, China's Special Envoy for Climate Change, Liu Zhenmin, former Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, Eric Solheim, former Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Senior Advisor to the World Resources Institute, and Ruihua Ke, President of Environmental Defense Fund, attended the side event. The side event was chaired by Zhao Yingmin, head of the Chinese delegation and vice minister of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment.
In his speech, Huang Runqiu said that as an important force in global climate action, the Chinese government has always attached great importance to the construction of ecological civilization, firmly established and practiced the concept that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets, and unswervingly followed the path of ecological priority and green development. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, President Xi Jinping has creatively put forward a series of new ideas, ideas and strategies that are rich in Chinese characteristics, embody the spirit of the times, and lead the development and progress of human civilization from the perspective of building a community with a shared future for mankind, forming Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization, which has injected important impetus into promoting the construction of a clean and beautiful world and promoting global sustainable development.
The picture shows Huang Runqiu, Minister of Ecology and Environment of China, delivering a speech at the side event. Photo by China News Service reporter Han Haidan
"The earth is the only home for all mankind to survive, and addressing climate change is a global shared responsibility." Huang Runqiu expressed the hope that the conference will firmly uphold multilateralism, actively carry out a global inventory of "implementation-focused", fully respond to the demands of developing countries, encourage developed countries to show the necessary flexibility to reach multilateral solutions, send a positive signal to the international community to cooperate with practical actions to address climate change, and promote the full and effective implementation of the Paris Agreement.
He stressed that China will plan and promote the construction of ecological civilization from a higher position, with a broader vision and greater efforts, fight the battle against pollution, continue to promote green, low-carbon and high-quality development, deeply implement the national strategy of actively responding to climate change, implement the "1+N" policy system for carbon peak and carbon neutrality, make positive contributions to promoting global governance on climate change, and continue to write a new picture of the construction of a beautiful China.
The picture shows Xie Zhenhua, China's special envoy for climate change, delivering a speech at the side event. Photo by China News Service reporter Han Haidan
Xie Zhenhua said that in Dubai, China is ready to continue to work with all parties to send a positive signal of accelerating transformation and innovation and continuously improving efforts in the critical decade, and looks forward to establishing a milestone platform for strengthening cooperation after the global stocktake, so as to ensure that the multilateral process is "governed by reality" and that it is on the right track to strengthen the implementation of the Convention, the Protocol and the Paris Agreement.
"As a responsible major developing country, we have always adhered to our strategic commitment to climate action." He pointed out that China's economic and social development has embarked on the track of comprehensive green transformation, with the installed capacity of wind, solar, water and biomass power generation ranking first in the world, and has become a major supplier of wind power photovoltaic equipment and power batteries, which has promoted a significant reduction in the global renewable energy deployment cost and helped developing countries obtain clean, reliable and affordable energy. In the future, China will continue to take pragmatic actions and South-South and North-South cooperation measures to make greater contributions to addressing the global climate crisis, achieving sustainable development and building a clean and beautiful world.
The picture shows Zhang Xuguang, Vice President of Agricultural Bank of China, delivering a keynote speech. Photo by China News Service reporter Han Haidan
Zhang Xuguang said that at present, global climate change is still intensifying, and the impact on the smooth operation of the economy, ecology and society is becoming increasingly prominent. Financial institutions should take the initiative to play a better role based on their own advantages and operating characteristics. ABC is willing to work with international counterparts to build consensus, focus on actions, and continue to contribute to addressing climate change and building a clean and beautiful world.
Solheim said that China has won the battle against pollution, and concepts such as ecological civilization and beautiful China are leading the country's transformation to a green future. He noted that China now occupies a significant share of the world in the fields of solar energy, wind power, hydrogen energy, and electric vehicles, and is leading the process of green and low-carbon transformation. He argues that China not only sets policy goals, but also has the technical tools to achieve them.
Former UN Under-Secretary-General Solheim delivers a keynote speech. Photo by China News Service reporter Han Haidan
Ke Ruihua said that the Environmental Defense Fund recognizes President Xi Jinping's vision of building a beautiful China, and is willing to make more efforts to address climate change and environmental protection in China.
Zhao Yingmin said that everyone delivered enthusiastic speeches on the response to global climate change and the construction of China's ecological civilization, which provided a useful reference for the conference to reach a consensus. We believe that with the strong organization of the Arab side and the joint efforts of all of you, we will be able to convene a successful climate conference, further promote the climate change process, practice true multilateralism, respond to the concerns of developing countries, and contribute to the full and effective implementation of the Paris Agreement.
The picture shows Fred Krupp, president of the Environmental Defense Fund, giving a keynote speech. Photo by China News Service reporter Han Haidan
The side event was chaired by Hu Jun, deputy director of the Xi Jinping Thought Research Center for Ecological Civilization. In this session, Wang Yi, Deputy Director of the National Climate Change Expert Committee and Researcher of the Institute of Science and Technology Strategy Consulting of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Warren Evans, Special Envoy for Climate Change of the Asian Development Bank, Gerbrand Haverkamp, CEO of the World Benchmarking Alliance, and Jiang Fei, Dean of the School of International Journalism and Communication of Beijing University of Foreign Chinese, shared their professional insights on topics such as China's green development transformation, the important role of enterprises in achieving sustainable goals, and international communication of climate issues. Wang Wangsheng, Director of the Department of Ecology and Environment of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Liu Lianwei, Deputy Director of the Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of Hainan Province, Zhang Zhitong, Deputy Mayor of Chongming District, Shanghai, Qiu Minghua, Deputy General Manager of Shanghai Electric Power Plant Engineering Company, Wu Xiao, Chairman of Ledong Power Generation Co., Ltd., National Energy Group, and other representatives from local governments and enterprises in China shared the excellent cases of Teach for China.
Hu Jun said that the guests shared the excellent cases in the practice of Beautiful China, and told one vivid story after another that is happening on the land of China, which provides Chinese wisdom and Chinese solutions for responding to global climate change and green economic and social development.
Yu Lan, deputy editor-in-chief of China News Service and president of China News Network, said that this is the 11th consecutive year that China News Service has held a side event at the United Nations Climate Change Conference. In recent years, CNS has continued to innovate narrative methods and held a series of "News+" activities to tell the story of China's ecological civilization in the new era, promote climate exchanges between China and foreign countries, and boost confidence in global climate governance. In the future, CNS will work with all parties to be a good communicator of people-to-people ties and a promoter of people-to-people exchanges in telling the story of a beautiful China, and contribute to promoting the common values of all mankind and building a clean and beautiful world.
The side event of "Ecological Civilization and Beautiful China Practice" was hosted by the Xi Jinping Ecological Civilization Thought Research Center and China News Service, organized by the Environmental and Economic Policy Research Center of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and Chinanews.com, and co-organized by the People's Government of Chongming District, Shanghai and the Hainan Provincial Department of Ecology and Environment.
The day's event coincided with the first day of COP28. Before the opening ceremony of the COP28 China Corner, Huang Runqiu, Sultan Jaber and other Chinese and foreign guests visited the exhibition "China's Policies and Actions on Climate Change" and the Climate Action Comic Exhibition in the China Corner, and played the COP28 tribute song "Gift to the World". It is understood that this event is also the first national pavilion event attended by COP28 President-designate Sultan Jaber during this conference.
It is reported that during COP28, China will hold more than 100 side events in the China Corner. (ENDS)