Professor Chai Fahe,Former Vice-President of Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences(L), Canadian Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Catherine McKenna(C)and the moderator, Wu Changhua, Chair of China Redesign Hub and former Greater China Director of the Climate Group(R) at the event.(Photo provided by Embassy of Canada)
(ECNS) -- China is committed to taking concrete steps to cut emissions and welcomes global investment and cooperation in helping the country shift to green growth, said Professor Chai Fahe in Beijing on Tuesday.
Chai, Former Vice-President of Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, made the remarks at a dialogue event with Canada's Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Catherine McKenna.
Traveling with a clean technology delegation of Canadian companies, McKenna spent several days in China to further implement the outcome reached during the back-to-back visits by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang to each other's respective countries.
During her stay in China, McKenna is scheduled to co-chair the Annual General Meeting with China's Minister of Environmental Protection Chen Jining and participated in bilateral meetings on key policy issues including national parks, environmental protection, climate change, clean energy and clean-growth economy.
During the 2011 to 2015 period, China cut greenhouse gas emissions per GDP by 18.2 percent, boosting the country's confidence to set a more ambitious goal of 15 percent by 2020, Chai said.
The target is written into a legally binding five-year plan with two other promises, including cutting CO2 emissions per GDP by 18 percent and increasing the use of non-fossil fuels by 3 percent by 2020, Chai added.
He said China definitely needs Canada's experience and technology to meet these goals.
Acknowledging China's significant role in enabling the reach of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, McKenna said Canada shares the spirit in addressing climate change, pledging to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2030.
She said the Chinese market for clean energy and green solutions is big and very competitive, while Canadian firms are relatively small and may face challenges when dealing with environmental issues on such a scale as China's.
Despite that, the minister said cooperation between the two countries is making progress on both the governmental and business levels.
As two members of the Mission Innovation, which was announced at the COP21 climate talks in Paris last December, China and Canada both seek to double government investment over the next five years in clean energy research.
Both Chai and McKenna said that the market has a huge role to play in allocating funds and leading innovation.
As an example, Chai said China will launch a national carbon emission trading market in 2017 to naturally encourage polluting companies to seek greener solutions for profit.
McKenna said similar measures have proven effective and efficient in Canada, and that the country is willing to help Chinese enterprises control emissions.
For future cooperation, Chai said there are opportunities in the sectors of energy efficiency, green industry, clean transportation systems and technology research.
