Stepping up sustainability with green resolutions

China's effort to battle environmental problems and work out new, green resolutions will gain wider support from the international community and benefit the world through the Chinese experience, said members of a top environmental advisory body.

The China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development, a high-level think tank for the Chinese government in the fields of environment and development, ended its three-day annual general meeting on Tuesday in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang province.

Vidar Helgesen, vice-chairman of the CCICED and special envoy to the High-level Panel on Building a Sustainable Ocean Economy, encouraged China to share its important experiences to enlighten other countries on topics of wind and solar power, electric transportation and nature-based development. The country has long been one of the largest technology providers in these sectors.

Helgesen emphasized that different countries should collaborate and carry out dialogues to see whether the solutions could be greener, better for biodiversity and cleaner for the world's oceans.

Erik Solheim, vice-chairman of the CCICED and ambassador for the global food and land use coalition under the United Nations Environment Programme, highlighted China's achievements in pollution abatement and waterway cleanup.

Malaysia and the Philippines have recently followed China's lead in rejecting international imports of waste plastics to their countries, Solheim said.

He stressed the importance of China's Belt and Road Initiative in helping landlocked countries avoid falling into a coal-based paradigm, noting the success of the initiative could make an enormous contribution from China to the world.

Ban Ki-moon, former secretary-general of the United Nations, attended the closing ceremony and urged all researchers and experts present to turn discussions and ideas on environmental governance, green urbanization, sustainable production and many other important topics shared at the meeting into real policies and actions.

"Now is the time to transcend boundaries between nations and organizations," Ban said. "Now is the time to work across industries, across fields of expertise and across political divisions.

"The problems we have created cross these lines, so we must also cross these lines to ensure an environmentally sustainable and socially inclusive global community."

Han Zheng, vice-premier of China and chairman of the CCICED, said the country's eco-civilization development has been on a fast track and that the country will contribute a more beautiful scenery with bluer skies, greener mountains and cleaner water to the world.

In 2018, the average concentration of PM 2.5, a major indicator for measuring air quality, dropped 9.3 percent year-on-year in 338 Chinese cities surveyed. In some heavily-polluted areas, including Beijing and Tianjin in North China and some cities in the Yangtze River Delta, the index decreased by more than 10 percent, Han said.

He said China will stick to green development, using innovative technologies to improve the traditional industries, speed up the energy-saving and environmentally friendly sectors, develop clean energy and promote the saving and recycling of energies.

The country will prioritize improving the environment, protecting the ecosystem and enhancing the governance in the sector, he said.

Han said China is willing to work together with the rest of the world to cope with the global challenges and take an active role in global environmental governance.