Your Excellency USG Li Junhua,

Chief Planner Zhang Bing,

Executive Vice Mayor Wang Zongming,

Excellencies,

Dear Colleagues,

It’s my great pleasure to join you at this special event on China’s Two-Mountains Theory for Advancing Sustainable Development.

Today, our world faces mounting ecological challenges and growing headwinds in achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

To save planet Earth, our one and only home, and to protect the shared future of humanity, the international community must reaffirm its commitment, and work together for the harmonious coexistence between human and Nature, and for a community of all life on Earth.

In this spirit, I wish to share three points.

First, we must uphold the vision of ecological civilization.

A sound ecosystem is both a natural asset and an economic asset, essential for the prosperity of any civilization.

We shall take the development of ecological civilization as our guide. That means we should respect Nature, follow Nature’s laws, protect Nature, and enhance the diversity, stability, and sustainability of the ecosystem.

At the same time, we must always put people’s well-being front and center. We should pursue win-win results in environmental protection, economic development, job creation, poverty alleviation and other endeavors, and build a homeland of harmonious coexistence between human and Nature.

Second, we must speed up the green transition.

Green transition is not only the essential way to address climate change and environmental challenges, but also a new engine for economic and social development.

We need to build a green, low-carbon, and circular economic system, promote the growth of digital, smart, and green industries, foster both green production and green lifestyles, and make green a defining feature of high-quality development.

To help the global green, low-carbon transition, developed countries should provide financial, technological, and capacity-building support to developing countries, so that all countries can share the benefits of green development.

Third, we must improve global ecological governance.

Countries around the world share a common stake as passengers in the same boat. In this community with a shared future, unilateralism and protectionism finds no support.

We must practice true multilateralism, and firmly safeguard the UN-centered international system.

We must adhere to the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities”, and fully and effectively implement the Paris Agreement and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

We must uphold the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits, enhance policy communication and cooperation among countries, and work for a fair and equitable system of global ecological governance for win-win cooperation.

Dear Colleagues,

It has been 20 years since President Xi Jinping made the important observation that “Clear waters and green mountains are just as valuable as gold and silver.” In the two decades since then, China has achieved one of the world’s fastest energy intensity reduction and most visible improvement in air quality.

Today, China boasts the world’s largest and most complete new energy industrial chain, and has contributed a quarter of the world’s newly-added area of afforestation,

China provides over 80 percent of the photovoltaic components and 70 percent of wind power equipment worldwide, offering affordable and better access to clean energy for countries around the world, especially developing countries.

Through the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, China has pledged to help Africa build “green growth engines”, and our juncao technology has been introduced to many countries, becoming a fine example of “small and beautiful” cooperation projects.

If we humanity do not fail Nature, Nature will not fail us. Under the guidance of the Two-Mountains Theory, we assure you that China will continue deepening exchanges and cooperation on ecological civilization with all parties via the Global Development Initiative and the Belt and Road Initiative.

Together, we can accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, and build a clean and beautiful world for all.

Thank you!