Your Excellency Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya,

Dear Colleagues,

At the outset, I wish to thank Russia for initiating today’s online meeting.

2021 is a crucial year for global environmental governance. The COVID-19 pandemic has reminded us again that humanity and Nature are a community of life. The international community must uphold multilateralism, strengthen solidarity and coordination, and jointly tackle global challenges such as climate change, environmental pollution and biodiversity loss, to realize green, low-carbon and sustainable development.

China sets great store by implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and vigorously advances its ecological conservation work, regarding lucid waters and lush mountains as invaluable assets. President Xi Jinping announced at the high-level meeting of the 75th session of the UN General Assembly and the Leaders Summit on Climate that China will strive to achieve carbon peak by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060, demonstrating China’s firm commitment to actively addressing climate change and realizing green development.

We remain committed to a people-centered approach. We see a sound ecological environment as the most inclusive well-being of the people and work relentlessly to keep our skies blue, our waters clear, and our lands pollution-free, so as to meet people’s growing aspiration for a beautiful ecological environment.

We actively advance the revolution in energy production and consumption, constantly upgrade industrial and energy structures and accelerate the development of energy-conserving, environmentally friendly industries. For many years, China’s renewable energy sector has consistently ranked first in the world in patents, investment, installed capacity and power generation. Wind power and photovoltaic installations account for more than 30% of the global total, and new energy vehicles 55% of global sales. Between 2016 and 2020, China saw a significant drop in its energy intensity, an equivalent of slashing 1.4 billion tons of CO2 emissions.

We vigorously improve our institutional building for ecological conservation. An array of important laws and regulations have been rolled out to offer reliable institutional guarantees for green development. For the business community, we have offered tailored policy support, and strengthened regulation and accountability to guide them to fulfill their environmental, social and governance responsibilities.

We actively conduct South-South cooperation. Since 2011, China has allocated 1.2 billion RMB of assistance to support least developed countries and small island states in meeting the challenge of climate change. We have made environmental and ecological cooperation a key part of Belt and Road cooperation. In recent years, China has invested an average of more than 2 billion US dollars in renewable energy projects in the Belt and Road Initiative.

In October, China will hold COP15 of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the second United Nations Global Sustainable Transport Conference. China stands ready to strengthen communication and cooperation with all parties and work for positive outcomes of the two international meetings. In doing so, we will together inject fresh impetus into global ecological protection and sustainable recovery, and contribute to the building of a community of life for humanity and Nature.

Thank you.