China's progress toward goals of carbon peak, carbon neutralization remarkable: envoy

China has made remarkable progress toward its goals of reaching peak carbon emissions and carbon neutralization, China's Special Envoy for Climate Change Xie Zhenhua said Sunday.

He made the remarks at a side event themed "Green Life, Joint Efforts and Shared Benefits -- Advocating Public Participation in Taking Green Actions" in China's pavilion at the venue of the 27th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP27) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Zhao Yingmin, head of the Chinese delegation to COP27 and vice minister of China's Ministry of Ecology and Environment, also attended the meeting.

Xie pointed out that China has actively implemented the Paris Agreement, and further enhanced its nationally determined contribution, aiming to reach carbon peak and achieve carbon neutralization in a strong, orderly and effective manner. "China has made great progress in this regard," Xie said.

According to preliminary calculations, the amount of carbon dioxide emissions China produces per unit of GDP in 2021 is 3.8 percent lower than that in 2020 and 50.8 percent than in 2005, he said.

The Chinese envoy added that China has been actively creating a green and low-carbon atmosphere for years, encouraging the public to participate in carbon emissions reduction, and exploring to establish a pluralistic mechanism of social participation.

He said that China has also integrated ecological civilization into its national education system and strengthened ecological education in schools.

"Public participation is an important driving force for green and low-carbon development and a key indicator for the modernization of the environmental governability and governance system in a country," Xie said.

Under the principles of openness and transparency, broad participation, consensus and party-driven, China will work with all parties to promote the success of COP27 and contribute China's wisdom and strength to building a fair, reasonable and win-win global climate governance system, he added.

At the side event, representatives from China's enterprises, scientific research institutions and social organizations, such as Tsinghua University and All-China Environment Federation, jointly discussed cases, challenges and recommendations for public participation in low-carbon action.

Starting on Sunday, the COP27 will last till Nov. 18 in the coastal city of Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt.