China actively implements intl environment conventions: white paper

BEIJING - China has been actively honoring its commitments to various international conventions that propel environmentally-friendly development, said a white paper issued Thursday.

According to the white paper titled "The Right to Development: China's Philosophy, Practice and Contribution," China became the first country in the world to formulate and implement a national strategy to cope with climate change.

The country achieved ahead of schedule its first-stage phase-out goal of HCFCs, ozone-depleting substances commonly used for products such as air conditioners, as part of its commitment to the "Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer," said the paper.

China's reduction of ozone-depleting substances accounts for approximately half of the total reduction by developing countries, it added.

The country has eliminated the production, use, and import and export of 17 of the 26 types of persistent organic pollutants listed in the "Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants," according to the paper.

China has made significant efforts in moving the Paris Agreement on greenhouse gas emission mitigation toward adoption and taking effect, it said.

According to the white paper, by the end of 2015, total forest acreage in China had reached 208 million hectares, covering 21.66 percent of China's total land area, and the country has 2,740 nature reserves, covering a total area of 147.03 million hectares.

Air pollution control in China is making steady progress, it said, adding that the proportion of coal consumption in total energy provision is decreasing year by year, while the contribution of various types of clean energy, including hydropower, wind power and nuclear power, is increasing.

Since 2006, China's energy consumption per 10,000 yuan (around 1,450 U.S. dollars) of GDP has decreased by 34 percent, saving 1.57 billion tons of coal equivalent, more than half of the energy saved by the whole world in this period, the paper noted.