Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday called for strengthening exchanges and mutual learning among countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and fostering closer people-to-people ties.

“Ten years ago, in view of the changes of the world, of our times and of the trajectory of history, I opined that mankind, living in the same global village, are increasingly becoming a community with a shared future in which everyone's interest is closely interlinked. Since then, the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind has gained extensive recognition and support from the international community, and has been transforming from an idea to action and a vision to reality. At the forefront of this trend is the SCO, upholding this very concept and the Shanghai Spirit to build an SCO community with a shared future,” President Xi said .

The SCO states account for almost half of the world population. In the interests of these peoples and the entire global community, they have reaffirmed their shared determination to promote cooperation in tackling challenges stemming from climate change.

During 2022, leaders of the SCO called for a "balance" between reducing carbon emissions and allowing poorer states to catch up with economically developed countries in an adopted joint statement on climate change.

In the statement, the heads of some of the world's biggest emitters said they unanimously recognized the negative consequences of climate change and the need for urgent action.

Climate change is an urgent issue and a serious challenge to all mankind, requiring us to strengthen international cooperation on the basis of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and work together to promote the transformation of economic and social development.

Member States believe that national circumstances should be taken into account and each country has the right to determine its own national emission reduction targets and their implementation pathways. Greenhouse gas reduction are essential for achieving the temperature control targets set out in the Paris Agreement.

"As a responsible major country, China always follows the philosophy of green development. It has worked with all parties to improve the mechanism for Belt and Road cooperation in green development. We have signed more than 50 cooperation documents on ecological and environmental protection with relevant countries and international organizations, and initiated Belt and Road partnership on green development with 28 partner countries. A large number of projects in green and practical cooperation have been launched in BRI partner countries. From wind turbines in Kazakhstan's Zhanatas to the Mombasa-Nairobi Railway on the East African Plateau, infrastructure built with an environmental-friendly philosophy has brought ecological benefits to countries along the BRI. We have trained 3,000 people from more than 120 countries under the Green Silk Road Envoys Program," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on February 24, 2023.

According to the data from the China Meteorological Administration (CMA), during 2012 and 2021, China supported an average economic growth of 6.5 percent with an average annual energy consumption growth rate of 3 percent, CO2 emissions per unit of GDP decreased by about 34.4 percent compared to 2012, and energy consumption per unit of GDP decreased by 26.3 percent compared to 2012, with a cumulative energy saving of about 1.4 billion tonnes of standard coal and a corresponding reduction of 3.7 billion tonnes of CO2. The share of coal consumption declined from 65.8 percent in 2014 to 56 percent in 2021, an average annual decline of 1.4 percentage points, the fastest in history. By the end of 2021, China's share of non-fossil energy has reached 16.6 percent, and renewable energy accounts for more than one-third of the world's installed capacity.

"These figures show that China has embarked on a green and low-carbon sustainable development path that is in line with its own national conditions, providing a reference for the low-carbon transition in developing countries and making an important contribution to global climate governance," said Zhang Xingying, deputy director general at the Department of Science, Technology and Climate Change, CMA.

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