Premier Li vows China will secure transition to green development

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said on Friday that China will do more to realize the transition to green economic and social development.

Premier Li made the remarks when he addressed the opening ceremony of the 7th World Conservation Congress (WCC) via video link from Beijing. 

“To preserve nature and achieve sustainable development in its modernization drive, China needs to make strenuous efforts,” Li said. “China is ready to work with all parties to build a clean and beautiful world.”

China has achieved growth in both forest coverage and stock for 30 consecutive years, and its terrestrial ecosystem types and key wildlife populations have been effectively preserved, the premier noted. 

“The migration of an elephant herd in China’s Yunnan Province has received widespread attention, which speaks to the importance we have attached to biodiversity protection and nature conservation,” he said. 

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“China is proactively implementing the Paris Agreement,” Li said. 

China’s national carbon emissions trading market, the world’s largest such market, started online trading in July.

The Chinese premier also stressed the principles of multilateralism and of common but differentiated responsibilities in addressing climate change, and called for more efforts to build a fair and reasonable global environmental governance system of win-win cooperation.

“Major countries should take their responsibilities and play a positive and leading role,” he said.

In promoting a post-pandemic recovery, the international community needs to take the path of green and low-carbon development, Li said.

Efforts should also be made to develop green finance, promote green technology, develop circular economy and advance the industrial transformation and upgrading, he added.

The 7th WCC, a quadrennial meeting of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), was co-hosted by the French government and the IUCN in Marseille. French President Emmanuel Macron also attended the meeting.

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