Editor's note: Liu Chunsheng is an associate professor at the Beijing-based Central University of Finance and Economics. The article reflects the author's opinions, and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

From proposing "carbon peak and neutrality" goals to launching a carbon peak action plan, China is accelerating the pace of green transformation. The huge opportunities contained therein have attracted the attention of global companies, and "green" has thus become an important theme throughout the ongoing 4th China International Import Expo (CIIE).

China's exploration of the green economy continues to heat up and the fourth CIIE is considered to be a great platform to bridge the enormous demand in the country's market and potential supply from all over the world.

The energy low-carbon and environmental protection technology zone in this year's CIIE, with the theme of "low-carbon development, green recovery," contains three sections, green energy, construction energy conservation and environmental governance. The exhibition area of ​​the whole special section has attracted nearly 50 well-known companies.

In the past few years, China has made considerable progress in promoting green development, and has led the world in areas such as the layout of the new energy industry and the carbon emission trading market.

China is the world's largest new energy vehicle market, with its production and sales scale ranking first in the world for six consecutive years, and it has also become the world's largest photovoltaic market. In 2020, China's photovoltaic module output reached 124.6 gigawatts (GW), a year-on-year increase of 26.4 percent, ranking first in the world for 14 consecutive years. More than 60 percent of photovoltaic modules are produced for export.

As the world's largest trading country and the second largest consumer market, China's low-carbon transformation puts a decisive influence on the promotion of global sustainable development.

While promoting the green transformation of domestic economy and lifestyle, China has been making efforts in strengthening green trade and investment cooperation with other countries and participating in the regulation of international standards and rules which are not only important parts of China's realization of "carbon peak and neutrality" goals and new development pattern of dual circulation, but also a significant contribution to global emission reduction targets.

As a window for connecting China and the world market, the CIIE will play a major role in this regard.

Indeed, the development of a green and low-carbon economy has become a global consensus. The Paris Agreement reached in 2015 set clear goals for carbon emission reduction and climate change. This will not only accelerate the low-carbon transformation of the global industrial supply chain, but also reshape the standards and rules of international trade and investment and even will become the entry point for trade and investment in the future.

The popularization of the concept of green consumption has furthermore led many consumers to actively choose products that meet environmental protection standards, and more companies to implement full-life-cycle environmental management in all aspects from raw material selection, innovation, production to transportation, and sales.

A large number of products that embody the concept of the green economy, environmental protection and sustainable development have launched initiatives at the 2021 CIIE which has gathered many overseas exhibitors to provide green innovative technologies and zero-carbon solutions.

Through the global economic and trade exchange and cooperation platform of the CIIE, China's "carbon peak and neutrality" strategy has created new growth momentum for international trade and investment in the post-pandemic era.

Many companies realize that the awareness of sustainable development of Chinese consumers is constantly improving with the advancement of green transformation, and that green and low-carbon consumption has become a new trend in China's consumer market.

International giant companies soon noticed astonishing commercial opportunities and have taken actions to speed up the sustainable development of their businesses in China, and plan to provide more environmentally friendly products for the Chinese market.

The new philosophy of contribution and shared benefits should be applied in green and low-carbon development which should never be the practice of a few high-quality enterprises.

Only by making green development the entry threshold for every enterprise to participate in market competition can more people benefit from the new pattern in the future. The low-carbon and circular economy is inseparable from the innovation drive of enterprises. Both domestic and overseas enterprises should incorporate the concept of green development into their corporate social responsibility system, innovate green and low-carbon technologies, build intelligent and clean green factories, provide green products and services and advocate an environment-friendly lifestyle.

By 2025, the scale of China's green and low-carbon industry will reach about three trillion Chinese yuan, accounting for about 2.5 percent of GDP. It can be predicted that this huge market share will attract more international enterprises and institutions to participate in China's green development through the CIIE.

While the introduction of new technologies and products will help China's low-carbon transformation, China's expanding green consumer market will also drive the green technology, product and service innovation of overseas enterprises.

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