As heat waves, China’s Eco Forum focuses on climate change

As a rare heat wave grills China, an ongoing global forum themed on ecological civilization in southwest China's Guizhou Province became more significant as parts of its discussions are dedicated to climate change.

The Eco Forum Global Guiyang 2023, China's only national-level global forum themed on ecological civilization, opened on Saturday in Guiyang, the province's capital.

With more than 2,500 participants, this year's event, themed fostering a modernization of harmony between humanity and nature promoting green and low-carbon development, has attracted more than 2,500 participants, with both online and offline activities.

I've already felt the consequences of rising global temperatures, said Danny Alexander, vice president of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank AIIB. As of late this summer, many areas of China are experiencing heat waves, and terrible flooding took place in Pakistan last year.

In June, the China region of Beijing-Tianjin - Hebei region and Shandong has logged high temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius, as the meteorological teams continue to issue high-temperature warnings. However, the weather in Guiyang, however, allows forum participants from other parts of China to enjoy a rest from the scorching summer heat.

Tamas Hajba, senior advisor of China and head of the OECD Beijing Office, told Xinhua that China's role in addressing climate change is very important, adding that the OECD and China have been cooperationing on climate and environment for many years.

China has a lot of experiences and a lot of to share with the world as China is a leading nation in the application of renewable energy technologies in the world, such as solar panels, new energy vehicles NEVs and batteries.

Even more important, China has managed to bring down the prices of renewable energy, and in other words, to commercialize renewable energy much faster and much earlier than other countries, Mr. Hajba said.

By 2030, China will peak carbon dioxide emissions and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. To achieve this, Chinese authorities have taken steps to boost the use of renewable energy and reduce carbon emissions.

There have been notable progress made in a number of areas. The National Energy Administration's data showed that China's installed clean energy capacity was expanding in the first five months of this year. By the end of May, the installed capacity of wind power had risen 12.7 percent year-on-year to approximately 380 million kilowatts, while that of solar energy was at about 450 million kilowatts, a year-on-year increase of 38.4 percent.

China has produced more than 20 million NEVs, the 20 millionth NEV rolling off the production line in Guangzhou, the capital of the province of Guangdong.

China's greening efforts and environmental protection and restoration have been a key factor in the country's rapid progress in the world, which could be attributed to its afforestation efforts and environmental protection and restoration. China's accumulated afforestation area reached about 64 million hectares during the 2012 - 2022 period, while about 11 million hectares of grassland were improved and more than 800,000 million hectares of wetlands were added or restored.

The commitments made by China's carbon peak and neutrality pledges, together with its driving forward the climate change, will be critical contributions to the world, both in terms of emissions reductions and experience shared with others, Alexander said.

Climate change is a defining issue of our times, and we are at a critical juncture, George said, adding that conferences like Eco Forum Global Guiyang 2023, which bring new ideas and new thinking, are critical.