On September 6, 2024, the China-U.S. Circular Economy Cooperation Forum was held in Beijing. Ambassador Xie Feng said in his remarks that China has taken real actions to address climate change, conserve energy and reduce emissions. It is committed to prioritizing ecological conservation and pursuing a green, low-carbon and sustainable path to development. Chinese modernization is the modernization of harmony between humanity and nature, with a focus on advancing both material progress and ecological conservation.

The Chinese economy has entered a stage of high-quality development featuring a faster transition to green and low-carbon development. We have been advancing reform and innovation and developing new drivers of growth. We have also been phasing out outdated production capacities and making concerted efforts to cut carbon emissions, reduce pollution, pursue green development and boost economic growth. China has built the world’s largest, most complete and most competitive clean energy industry chain. In the past ten years, China phased out more than 100 million kilowatts of installed coal-fired power generation capacity, reduced the energy consumption per unit of GDP by 26.8%, and ranked first in the world in the waste plastic recycling rate. All these are examples of our efforts to prioritize ecological protection, conserve resources and use them efficiently, and pursue green and low-carbon development.

Ambassador Xie pointed out that vigorously developing the circular economy is a basic path toward China’s ecological conservation, an important part of comprehensive resource conservation, an effective way to achieve carbon peak and carbon neutrality, and also a natural requirement of high-quality development. During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, the combined contribution of the circular economy toward China’s carbon emissions reduction exceeded 25%. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee rolled out strategic plans for ramping up the green transition in all areas of economic and social development and actively and prudently moving toward the goals of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. We will improve the systems for total resource consumption control and comprehensive resource conservation, as well as the system for recycling waste and used materials. Mechanisms for ensuring clean and efficient use of coal will be refined, and we will work toward an economy that facilitates green, low-carbon, and circular development. All these have further demonstrated China’s determination to actively respond to climate change.