Editor's note: Sothiary Toch, a development practitioner and researcher, earned a master's in development studies at Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand, and is a doctoral candidate in international politics at the School of Politics and International Studies, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China. The article reflects the author's opinions, and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

Over the last two decades, China has engaged and become proactive in global environmental governance. The growing impacts of its economic and political realms have directly influenced environmental governance. The country's efforts in fighting climate change not only set a new benchmark at home but also on the global arena, preparing China for a leading role in climate actions after it signed the Paris Agreement in 2015.

During the UN Climate Action Summit in New York this week, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi gave a message that outlined China's vital roles in the action framework. He said that "we must honor our commitments, follow through on the Paris Agreement and see to it that both this summit and the COP 25 will produce positive outcomes." The message clearly demonstrates that China, as the largest developing country, will proactively engage and join with other parties to implement the agreed action plans.

As far as climate mitigation is concerned, China has already had great accomplishments through the years based on the statistics of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, which are in line with what Wang laid out at the summit.

In 2018, the CO2 emissions per unit of GDP were down by around 49 percent when compared to 2005, greater than the target set for the year. During the same period, China's share of non-fossil fuel and primary energy consumption hit 14.2 percent and contributed to a quarter of the world's newly forested land. In this regard, China has reduced CO2 emissions by more than 5 billion tonnes.

More importantly, the Chinese government has employed multi-dimensional approaches and measures to fight environmental problems, particularly by implementing nature-based initiatives at home. For example, China had included polluted air, water and soil issues, often of concern to the public, in the action plans of the solution process from the period of 2013 to 2016. Each plan was set to an achievable target. A particular instance is that 90 percent of the nation's polluted farmland and industrial sites will be decontaminated by 2020.

On top of that, China also plays a leadership role in green finance. A range of initiatives to create a green financial system had been developed since 2013 with the aim of growing the corporate green bond market that matters in the transition to a low-carbon economy. This market grew incredibly fast at the time. In early 2016, two commercial banks, for instance, produced more than 4.5 billion U.S. dollars bonds in less than three years.

Now China has launched the largest issue of green bonds on international markets as well as strengthening its overseas investment in multilateral development banks such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the New Development Bank.

This significant contribution to fighting climate change is inspirational and other countries should follow this model to reduce global warming and promote sustainable development.

But there is still more necessary work, particularly at home, that has to be done. The domestic legal and policy frameworks matter to an environmental protection system and should be more open and unified across administrative units. This will provide more room in a cohesive and flexible plan for various levels of government to implement their projects more effectively.

More support from the private sector, NGOs and other publics are necessary in a partnership. This approach will double the government's efforts in climate governance to also reflect the "collective will" and "multi-stakeholder approach" to combat climate change.

Public environmental awareness also plays a very important role in the process. If the Chinese public have more understanding about the environmental impacts of their behavior, they will choose environmentally-friendly or efficient-energy products and encourage businesses to be more socially responsible. This approach is also necessary to include China's environmental impacts on other developing countries where Chinese companies are investing.   

To sum up, the increasing impacts of China's economic and political development have directly influenced environmental governance. On the one hand, China's efforts and accomplishments have undoubtedly been conclusive over the years, particularly after making its pledges regarding the Paris Agreement. It will make China's role even more crucial after the post-2020 process. On the other hand, incentivizing an open and unified control system, stakeholder partnership and awareness-raising could multiply the result. 

(If you want to contribute and have specific expertise, please contact us at opinions@cgtn.com.)