Xie Zhenhua (center), Chinese President Xi Jinping’s special representative and China's special envoy for climate change, answers questions during a press conference at the 27th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP27) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, Nov 9, 2022. (SUI XIANKAI / XINHUA)

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt – The Chinese delegation to the ongoing UN climate conference announced on Friday that China has formally submitted a report on the progress in implementing its targets of tackling climate change.

The delegation, which is attending the 27th session of the Conference of Parties (COP27) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held in the Egyptian coastal city of Sharm El-Sheikh, said the report was submitted to the convention's secretariat by the Chinese liaison of the UNFCCC.

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Meeting the Chinese delegation, a top UN official lauded China's concrete actions taken to deal with climate change.

The report also introduces the progress made by the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions in dealing with climate change

Titled "Progress on the Implementation of China's Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC)”, the report details related progress since China updated its plan in 2020, which includes reaching carbon peak before 2030 and achieving carbon neutralization before 2060.

"The NDC targets present not only China's current and future efforts to address climate change, but also as part of its responsibility to build a global community with a shared future. It is an important way of promoting ecological civilization and realizing high-quality development," the report said.

The report summarizes China's new arrangements and measures to achieve NDC, such as controlling greenhouse gas emissions in key areas, accelerating shift toward green and low-carbon energies, consolidating and enhancing ecosystem carbon sink, launching national carbon trading market, and strengthening the ability to adapt to climate change.

The report also introduces the progress made by China's Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions in dealing with climate change.

"China has always placed a high priority on implementing the NDC targets as a crucial step to promote the comprehensive green and low-carbon transformation in economic and social development," it noted.  

China's contribution to climate response hailed

The same day, UNFCCC Executive Secretary Simon Stiell lauded China's determination and concrete actions taken to deal with climate change.

He made the remarks during a meeting with the Chinese delegation to the COP27. Xie Zhenhua, special representative for Chinese President Xi Jinping and China's special envoy for climate change, and Zhao Yingmin, head of the Chinese delegation to COP27, attended the meeting.

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Stiell spoke highly of China's firm and consistent stand on actively tackling climate change, as well as its moves to turn climate commitments into concrete actions.

At a time when the world is facing an energy crisis, China continues to make solid progress in dealing with climate change and plays an important role in advancing the global response to climate change, he said.

The two sides also held in-depth exchange of views over key issues on the COP27 agenda.