Li urges intensified work on environment

Premier highlights prioritizing energy conservation, need for multilateralism

Premier Li Keqiang has urged closer international cooperation to promote parallel efforts in pursuing growth and green transformation, saying that nations must pursue a balanced, green and sustainable global economic recovery at lower costs.

In a speech delivered at a forum on low-carbon development in Taiyuan, Shanxi province, via video link, Li called upon different nations to respect science and do their best to transform energy consumption and ways of production.

The 2021 Taiyuan Energy Low Carbon Development Forum, with the theme of "Energy, Climate and Environment", brought together foreign leaders including Ethiopian President Sahle-Work Zewde, Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen and Xavier Bettel, prime minister of Luxembourg.

With the COVID-19 pandemic still raging globally and mounting uncertainties facing the global economy, the worldwide green and sustainable development campaign is also facing severe challenges, the premier said.

Li highlighted the importance of prioritizing energy conservation and adjusting the energy structure to improve the share of non-fossil fuels in energy consumption.

He also highlighted the need to adhere to multilateralism and uphold the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, calling for greater support in technology, funding and capacity building to developing countries to help them achieve green transformation.

It is important to enhance policy coordination and structural reform to enable a global economic recovery that is balanced, green and sustainable, he said, adding that the post-pandemic recovery cannot repeat the traditional pathway of tolerating heavy pollution and high emissions. Instead, nations must promote structural reform, foster new growth engines and enable the global recovery to occur at a lower cost, he said.

Li reiterated China's commitment to the high-quality development of the energy sector and its response to climate change. Already committing itself to peaking carbon emissions by 2030 and attaining carbon neutrality by 2060, China recently launched the world's largest carbon market.

However, China, as the world's largest developing nation, must make arduous efforts to attain green and low-carbon growth while ensuing its people live better lives during the course of building a modern socialist country until the middle of this century, the premier said.

The nation will carry out a new strategy in energy security, move forward reforms in energy consumption, supply, technology and institutions, and promote international cooperation in a bid to further energy transformation, he added.

He pledged quicker steps to promote the structural upgrading of industries, with parallel measures to strictly curb the scale of sectors with high energy consumption and emissions and bolster the growth of energy conservation and environmentally friendly industries.

Sun Ruisheng in Taiyuan contributed to this story.