At the China-EU Summit in Beijing on July 24, 2025, climate change topped the agenda as leaders agreed to deepen carbon‑market linkage, accelerate renewable energy deployment, and expand green technology cooperation.

The Joint Statement reaffirmed full support for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement, pledging to submit comprehensive 2035 Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) covering all sectors and greenhouse gases before the 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30),  scheduled to be held in November this year in Brazil.

Biodiversity and low‑carbon ecosystem protection have been highlighted as key summit themes. From July 8 to 9, 2024, Beijing hosted a training workshop on mainstreaming of biodiversity, co‑chaired by Anne‑Theo Seinen, leader of the International Biodiversity Team of the Directorate-General for Environment, and Liu Ning, China's lead negotiator for the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

Participants delved into planning, monitoring, reporting and mid‑ to long‑term work plans under the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), addressing scientific gaps. For the first time, financial‑sector stakeholders were invited to explore integrating biodiversity into public finance and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) frameworks, setting resource‑mobilization targets, and fostering a bio‑credit market.

On the research front, in April 2022, China's Ministry of Science and Technology and the European Commission exchanged diplomatic notes, signing a new China‑EU intergovernmental joint research funding agreement focused on climate change and biodiversity.

Since its launch in 2015, the mechanism's 2018-2020 cycle has backed collaborative R&D among universities, institutes and enterprises in agri‑food biotech and climate‑biodiversity nexus innovations, providing technology support for carbon neutrality.

China and the EU have also achieved strong results in green industry collaboration.

In 2025, Chinese battery maker CALB invested 2 billion euros (about $2.3 billion) in a Portugal lithium‑battery plant, CATL has built gigafactories in Germany, Hungary and Spain.

A Chinese consortium is constructing Croatia's Korlat solar plant, expected to cut 150,000 tonnes of CO2 annually.

Meanwhile, Siemens opened its first industrial ecosystem hub in Chengdu, southwest China's Sichuan Province, and Danish energy firm Danfoss launched its first carbon‑neutral factory in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province, with strong 2024 performance in data centers and energy storage.

UN Secretary‑General Antonio Guterres welcomed the cooperation, noting that a partnership between the world's two largest economies is critical to making COP 30 a turning point in the climate emergency. He reiterated his call for all G20 countries to submit ambitious NDCs aligned with the 1.5-degree goal by 2035.

From biodiversity policy training to joint research funding and industrial‑tech collaboration, China and the EU are forging a comprehensive, multi‑layered "green partnership."

Looking ahead, they will deepen synergy in green finance, carbon‑market linkage and technological innovation – together powering global ecological and climate governance.

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China-EU green partnership for shared climate goals gains momentum

(Cover: Photovoltaic panels in Jiangkou Village, Jiangxi Province, east China, August 27, 2024. /VCG)