China has made ecological and environmental protection a national priority, being acutely aware that the country has to go to war against pollution. “We must firmly establish the concept of a socialist ecological civilization. We must develop a harmonious relationship between man and nature and do everything to protect the environment for future generations,” said President Xi Jinping.

China aims to reach peak carbon emissions before 2030, and to become carbon neutral before 2060. This goal will lead to profound changes in the country’s social and economic development.

In November 2020, the new British ambassador to China Caroline Wilson paid her first visit to south China after she took office. At Shenzhen’s Lianhuashan Bus Terminal, Wilson visited the world’s first and largest pure electric bus operator — Shenzhen Bus Group Co., Ltd. She experienced a ride on a pure electric double-decker bus used for tourism and sightseeing produced by BYD Auto Co., Ltd., a Shenzhen-based Chinese automaker known for its battery-electric vehicles. Wilson said the bus was clean and beautifully designed. After paying for the ride by scanning a QR code, she boarded and mounted to the second floor of the bus to begin her “zero-emission” journey.

The COVID-19 pandemic has ravaged every continent and put unprecedented strain on our economies. Yet, while we continue to focus on fighting COVID-19 and its consequences for the global economy, the clock has not stopped ticking on the other global crises: the climate crisis, the biodiversity crisis, pollution, and the over-exploitation of resources.

The success of China’s proactive afforestation was affirmed in Nature journal’s recent article, “Climate Change: China’s Forest Carbon Uptake ‘Underestimated’.” The report, based on ground and satellite observations, was co-authored by researchers at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP), Chinese Academy of Sciences.

China made the commitment to reduce its CO2 emissions per unit of GDP by 40-45 percent by 2020 as compared with 2005 at the UN Climate Change Conference 2009 in Copenhagen; and simultaneously increase the proportion of non-fossil energy consumption to 15 percent of its total energy mix. That commitment was honored ahead of schedule. By 2019, China’s CO2 emissions per unit of GDP had dropped by 48 percent, and its non-fossil energy consumption ratio had risen to 15.3 percent.

At the General Debate of the 75th Session of the United Nations General Assembly convened on September 22, 2020, Chinese President Xi Jinping promised to the world, “China will scale up its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions by adopting more vigorous policies and measures. We aim to have CO2 emissions peak before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. ”

In September 2020, the State Council, China’s cabinet, issued the Overall Plan for the Beijing, Hunan, and Anhui Pilot Free Trade Zones and the Plan for the Expansion of the Zhejiang Pilot Free Trade Zone. This is the sixth batch of measures tested by the pilot FTZs since 2013, bringing the total number of free trade zones nationwide to 21.

On July 1, 2017, Chinese President Xi Jinping attended the signing ceremony of the framework agreement on the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Since then, Guangdong Province has pooled its resources and pulled out all the stops to advance this initiative.

From November 5 to 10, the highly anticipated third China International Import Expo (CIIE) was held in Shanghai as scheduled, with a total exhibition area of nearly 360,000 square meters, some 30,000 square meters larger than last year. For over 2,600 global exhibitors, this year’s event not only provides the world with an opportunity to tap into China’s vigorous market, but also promises to inject fresh impetus into a global economy crippled by the COVID-19 pandemic. The annual CIIE, seen as a key symbol of China’s openness, is also a platform that has been deemed “terrific” and “important” by foreign senior executives.

Despite the difficult times in which the world finds itself currently, the third China International Import Expo (CIIE), held in early November in Shanghai, was a great success. The total exhibition area was expanded by close to 30,000 square meters compared with the second CIIE and a special area was set up for exhibits of public health and epidemic prevention. More new products and services also chose the event to make their global debut.

In response to changes in China’s development level, environment, and conditions, Chinese President Xi Jinping recently called for the country to nurture a new development pattern that takes the domestic market as the mainstay while letting domestic and foreign markets boost each other. This call reflects a strategic choice China has made to reshape its advantages in international cooperation and competition.

China’s mega-scale market has become a significant engine of the world economy. The contribution rate of its economic growth to the world has averaged more than 30 percent during the past seven years, ranking first in the world. According to Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, the Chinese economy has always been a momentous driving force for global growth, and its sound and steady development is of great importance to the world.

At the beginning of this year, people around the globe had a multitude of reasons to expect 2020 to be a super year for biodiversity and action on climate change emergencies. The year 2020 marks the 75th anniversary of the United Nations, the first UN summit on biodiversity at the level of heads of state and government, the 26th session of the Conference of the Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and the second extraordinary meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).