3. Tackling Climate Change: China's Initiatives

Addressing climate change is a cause shared by all of humanity. Faced with unprecedented challenges in global climate governance, the international community needs to respond with unprecedented ambition and action. We need to act with a sense of responsibility and unity, take proactive measures, and work together to pursue harmony between humanity and nature.

We must commit to sustainable development. Climate change results from unsustainable development models, thus it can be fundamentally resolved only by taking coordinated actions within the framework of sustainable development. All countries should integrate climate action into their national overall plans for sustainable development, promote a green, low-carbon, circular and sustainable approach to life and work, and foster a model of sustainable development featuring increased output, higher living standards, and healthy ecosystems.

We must commit to multilateralism. International affairs should be addressed by all parties involved through consultation, and the future of the world should be shaped by all countries acting together. In meeting the climate challenge, no one can isolate themselves and unilateralism will get us nowhere. Only by upholding multilateralism, unity and cooperation can we deliver shared benefits for all nations. State-to-state relations should be coordinated and regulated through proper institutions and rules. The strong should not abuse the weak. Rules, once made, should be followed by all. They should never be options which are observed or abandoned according to national interests. This is an effective way of jointly addressing climate change that must be respected by all of the international community.

We must commit to the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities. This is the cornerstone of global climate governance. Developed and developing countries shoulder different historical responsibilities for climate change, and they also have different development needs and capabilities. Therefore, it is unreasonable and unfair to enforce uniform restrictions on them. We should take into account different national circumstances and capabilities, and uphold the institutions according to which every country determines its contribution and does its part to the best of its ability. No one-size-fits-all standards should be adopted. Particular difficulties and concerns of developing countries should be accommodated. Developed countries should play an exemplary role in climate action and support developing countries in financing, technology, and capacity building.

We must commit to win-win cooperation. The world is undergoing changes of a scale unseen in a century, and humanity is in an era in which challenges emerge one after another and risks increase with each passing day. Non-conventional security threats including climate change are spreading. No country is immune from such challenges. The whole world needs to work together in solidarity and engage in cooperation. Countries should learn from each other and make common progress in a global effort to combat climate change, with the goal of achieving shared development for all.

We must commit to concrete actions. The key to addressing climate change lies in action. In implementing the Paris Agreement, we must maintain continuity and honor commitments. We must not be diverted from our course, turn about, or pay lip service. All countries should actively fulfill the NDCs they themselves have set, and turn goals into concrete policies, measures and actions.

Conclusion

China has succeeded in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and has now embarked on a new journey to build a modern country and achieve national rejuvenation. To realize high-quality development, it is essential for China to tackle climate change, a key issue that will have an impact on the wellbeing not only of the people of China, but of all the peoples throughout the world.

On the way forward into a new development stage, China will implement its new development philosophy and create a new development dynamic to boost high-quality development. With the reduction in carbon emissions as a major strategic goal for eco-environmental progress, it will incorporate the goals of peaking carbon emissions and reaching carbon neutrality into the overall economic and social development. It will decrease the emissions of both pollution and carbon, and strive to achieve synergy and efficiency. It will promote a comprehensive transition to green and low-carbon economic and social development, bring a fundamental change to its eco-environment by accumulating small changes, and achieve a model of modernization in which humanity and nature exist harmoniously.

Challenges posed by climate change are real, severe and lasting. The response requires the joint effort of all the international community, if we are to leave a clean and beautiful world to future generations. China will honor its promises and continue to support multilateralism, however the global situation changes. It will work with other parties to achieve the full, balanced, effective and sustained implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement, to fulfill its NDC goals, to control greenhouse gas emissions, and to increase its ability to adapt to climate change. It will redouble its efforts to promote a global community of shared future, and make a greater contribution to a better home planet for all humanity.