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Related video: Former UN official hails China's climate change policies
As the planet warms, countries are gearing up their efforts to limit greenhouse gas emissions and save our environment from ruin. China, the largest country by population, has an important role to play in these efforts and has made great strides in recent years.
Erik Solheim, a former United Nations undersecretary-general who has visited China many times, has been impressed by the country's efforts in tackling climate change.
In an exclusive interview with China Daily, Solheim hailed China's pledge to end international coal financing and shared some of China's green achievements he witnessed personally. He expressed confidence China can successfully establish an ecological civilization.
Here are some excerpts:
Question:
Do you think the COP26 conference was successful? What does this indicate for the future in terms of international action on climate change?
Solheim: I believe Glasgow achieved more than we could expect. There were important agreements on methane, to curb deforestation, and of course an agreement between China and the United States that the two main nations in the world will work together to fight climate change. It's an enormously important outcome of Glasgow.
But by and large, I believe that the driving force of climate action in the world is no longer diplomacy. It's the political economy, action by business. And it's actions by political leaders.
For instance, when President Xi promised China will phase out all overseas coal investments, that's much more important for the world than the outcome in the documents of Glasgow.
Question:
What do you think is the role of international bodies in making these goals reality or helping the world along this path?
Solheim: I think diplomacy is needed because we need to work together. There's an old saying that the whole world is one family. That should be our approach, particularly we should avoid any sort of Cold War, or lack of cooperation between the West and Asia.
But we shouldn't focus so much on diplomacy but on the action of political leaders.
Question:
The sixth plenary session of the 19th CPC Central Committee was recently concluded. One of the things they did was they released a resolution on the Communist Party of China's history. They summed up the achievements of the Party over the last 100 years and a major category of this was environmental protection.
You visited China many times, so what are some accomplishments or achievements you personally witnessed? What are some striking experiences that you've had?
Solheim: First of all, it's the scale of progress. Look, first time I visited China, there were no private cars in China. There was one metro line in the entire nation. There was no high-speed rail.
China now may be the most modern nation in the world and it has brought more people out of poverty at a higher speed than any other nation in human history.
But that also gives confidence that when China can be so successful fighting poverty, of course it can be as successful establishing an ecological civilization.
Ten years back, Chinese cities were horribly polluted. The pollution in Beijing, Shanghai or Tianjin is much less thanks to good policies by the ministry of environment and government.
On water pollution I observed, they have fought water pollution in Zhejiang province. It's world class. They have done in a few years in Zhejiang what we in Europe did in 30 years, turning an extremely polluted area into an area of hope and green tourism.
In Inner Mongolia, China's tree planting is leading the world in reigning in desert in a way no other nation has achieved.
And many Chinese cities like Hangzhou, Suzhou, Shenzhen are among the greenest in the world.
There are more electric buses in Shenzhen alone than there are in the entire world outside China combined. Shenzhen is leading the world when it comes to turning a city into green.
Basically on every environmental technology, China is leading at scale.
Question:
China is the largest nation in the world in both in terms of its scale in green energy and population, but it's also the world's largest developing country. And despite that status, goals were set to peak carbon emission by 2030 and to be zero-carbon by 2060. It's quite ambitious for a country of China's size.
What in your mind are some challenges that China will face meeting these goals? And do you have any suggestions to meet these challenges?
Solheim: I believe the biggest challenge for China is exactly what is the biggest challenge for Europe or the United States, and that is to embark upon a fair transition.
Obviously China as a society at large will benefit tremendously from the green transition. Lives will be much better and there will be millions of new jobs.
But if you are a coal miner in Shanxi, or if you are related to some other old-style industries in Liaoning province, you may not necessarily be very happy to see Guangdong or Fujian, moving very fast into solar and wind technology.
So to make the transition fair, here I think China can also learn something from the European Union.
That's to put a fair transition front and center, to establish some big funds to those areas who may not immediately benefit from the transition and also to train people into the new economy.
Question:
To be able to mitigate the effects of climate change, all countries have to take action. My thinking is the wealthier countries, the more developed countries, the more advanced economies have an obligation since they had a head start in industrialization development in so many ways to take the lead on this.
Do you think there is an equity issue when it comes to emission reductions?
Solheim: Absolutely. Let's be fair, the historical climate emissions of the United States are eight times higher than China per capita. So there's an equity issue for sure and those who polluted the most should also carry the heaviest burden.
However, moving into the new green future is no longer a burden. It's an enormous opportunity. There will not be fewer jobs, but many more jobs in the future if you go in the green direction.
That's what's happening now when we move into renewable industries, electric mobility, new tree planting, provide for a circular economy.
That's a fantastic opportunity for China and for any other nation in the world to create an ecological civilization.
About the interviewee
Erik Solheim is an expert on the environment.
He served in the Norwegian government from 2005 to 2012 as minister of International Development and minister of the Environment, and as undersecretary-general of the United Nations and executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme from 2016 to 2018.
He now serves as president of the Belt and Road Initiative Green Development Institute. He has visited China many times.
Reporters: Ian Goodrum, Jiang Wei, Liu Ming
Editors: Zhang Chunyan, Wang Jianfen
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