China and Germany should become partners in green development, strengthen communication and coordination on green and environmental issues, promote green energy technology development and industrial technology upgrading, and deepen cooperation in fields including new energy vehicles, green finance, and third-party markets, Chinese Premier Li Qiang proposed Tuesday at the seventh China-Germany inter-governmental consultation with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

A day earlier, the visiting premier at a seminar with representatives of the German business community also called on entrepreneurs from both countries to seize opportunities and take actions to make more cooperation achievements in emerging areas such as innovation, green and low-carbon development, making the pie of the two countries' converging interests even bigger.

Green development on the road and sea

"China has demonstrated global leadership in sustainable development," Uwe Lauber, CEO of MAN Energy Solutions, told CGTN.

The company, headquartered in Germany with operations covering engines, marine systems, power plants and turbomachinery, has been deeply involved in the Chinese market for more than 100 years. The CEO said the company is "a witness and participant of China's rapid and high-quality development."

China has made a commitment to peak carbon emissions by 2030 and become carbon neutral by 2060.

"The Chinese government is also building a new pattern of sustainable economic development, driving a new round of industrial upgrading around the world," Lauber said, adding that the country's construction, transportation and industrial sectors will also embark on the road of low-carbon transformation.

"In the field of marine transportation, Chinese customers have a growing demand for environmental protection, cleanliness and safe operation. This is also the key to making marine equipment more competitive, which poses a huge challenge to the upstream industry," said the CEO.

As one of the largest and fastest-growing economies in the world, China is one of the most important strategic markets for the company, he told CGTN.

Choosing China as its headquarters in the Asia Pacific region and Changzhou City in east China's Jiangsu Province as its first production base outside Europe, the company launched a new strategy dubbed "moving big things to zero" at the end of 2022, aiming to use technologies like green engines and retrofits to create solutions for sustainable prosperity, optimize emission reductions and help achieve climate neutrality.

The environmental and policy changes in China present opportunities for the industry, he said.

The CEO said that China's promotion of high-quality development and a higher level of openness to the outside world will bring new development opportunities to foreign enterprises.

"The Chinese government attaches great importance to the green and low-carbon development of shipping, continues to promote pollution reduction and carbon reduction in the port and shipping sectors and has made positive progress," he added.

The CEO said China's leadership is of "extraordinary significance in the global fight against climate change," and the company will work with its Chinese customers to explore more opportunities and facilitate the green transformation of the shipping industry and the road to net zero.

China's CATL, a world leading manufacturer in electric-car batteries, has been ploughing ahead in the European market, including Germany.

During a decade's endeavor in Germany, CATL has been established as an important partner and supplier to the German automotive industry, said Mathias Huttenrauch, CEO of CATL European business.

Its first overseas factory in Thuringia achieved mass production of lithium-ion battery cells late last year.

With large investment in the German plant, CATL has created nearly 2,000 local jobs, making it one of the largest industrial companies in Thuringia. "These measures will boost the regional economy and make an important contribution to Germany's energy and transport transformation," said Huttenrauch.

For future development, CATL will continue to make contributions to the global shift to renewable energy, while strengthening strategic cooperation with partners in Germany and other countries in Europe, he added.

CATL has partnered with almost all domestic new energy vehicle companies, as Global Times reported. It also has partnerships with overseas car companies such as Ford, Tesla, and BMW.

"China is ahead in new-energy and intelligent connected vehicles, while Germany is strong in traditional car-making technology and precision machining. In the field of EVs and new-energy vehicles, China and Germany have strong complementarity and room for cooperation," Zhang Xiang, visiting professor with the Engineering Department of Huanghe Science and Technology University, told Global Times.

A sustainable urban energy system

The two countries also share a long history in the cooperation in the energy sector.

Since the initiation in 2006 at the Sino-German Forum for Economic and Technological Cooperation, the bilateral cooperation in the sector developed into a strategic partnership in 2016, known as the Sino-German Energy Partnership.

Last year, the Energy Partnership launched Sino-German Demonstration Project on Energy Efficiency in Cities in Jintan Economic Development Zone (EDZ), east China's Jiangsu Province.

Globally, the urban sector ultimately generates about 70 percent of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, and a low-carbon transition in the sector is critical to the global energy transition.

The project, based on German and international best-practices, will support the zone to develop an integrated energy-concept for the pilot area, strengthen energy efficiency in urban areas and industry parks, and promote private sector cooperation between both countries, said the Energy Partnership.

"Combating climate change is a task that cannot be solved by a single country alone. Hence, Germany and China sealed an outstanding energy partnership," Christine Falken-Grosser, division director for Bilateral Energy Cooperation of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, said via a video link at the launch event.

"We believe that learning from each other is the way forward for accelerating our path towards a low-carbon future. I believe that Jintan EDZ, with its extensive experience in Sino-German cooperation, will provide an excellent example for sustainable district energy planning, combining both German and Chinese approaches and experiences," she said, stressing that the bilateral cooperation will inject new impetus into the low-carbon transformation of urban energy.