Ministry names CPC as environment protector
China released on Thursday 2016's 10 top global environmental issues, citing the Communist Party of China (CPC) as "the party that has the strongest sense of environmental protection."
"The implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement was named 2016's top issue, which ushers in a new phase in global environmental protection. And China has played an increasingly vital role in pushing for green and sustainable development globally," read a press release sent to the Global Times on Thursday by the Center for Environmental Education and Communications of the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP).
The center took into account experts' recommendations and online polls before releasing the list, the release said.
Two of the issues involve the CPC's environmental protection efforts - the CPC is pushing forward efforts to promote ecological conservation - which make it that the party has the strongest environmental awareness. And China announced several new policies on environmental protection.
"The CPC has firmly put China on the path of green and sustainable patterns, which is in sharp contrast to some Western parties which have vacillated on their environmental protection policies," Ren Yong, director of MEP's Center for Environmental Development, told the Global Times on Thursday.
Ren noted that environmental protection is part of the CPC's governing principles, and has taken measures involving the political, economic, social and cultural fields to this end.
The list also includes the suspension of the Clean Power Plan in the U.S., which may suggest changes to the Trump administration's position on climate change.
"Although the new climate and energy policies of the U.S. may bring uncertainties to the development of clean energy, the general situation has stabilized since the development of clean energy is unstoppable," said Zhang Jianyu, managing director of the U.S.-based Environmental Defense Fund.
Other issues include the second UN Conference on Climate Change, the G20 Summit's call for sustainable development, air pollution, and the move to cut global hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) levels.
