Xie Zhenhua, China's special representative for climate change affairs, on Sunday talks at the open forum themed on "Post-Katowice Global Climate Governance"at the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development 2019 Annual General Meeting in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province. Photo: Shan Jie/GT

Environment specialists said they have high expectations China will play a more proactive role in building global climate governance during a forum in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province.

"The Paris Agreement matches China's strategy of chasing high-quality development and enhancing ecological civilization construction," Xie Zhenhua, China's special representative for climate change affairs, said on Sunday. 

Xie made the remarks during an open forum themed on "Post-Katowice Global Climate Governance," at the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED) 2019 Annual General Meeting in Hangzhou. 

"As the world's largest developing country, China has always taken sustainable development as a national strategy and has confronted climate change actively," he noted.

After taking part in global climate governance for 28 year, and making a historic contribution to the Paris Agreement, China's role has changed from being a participant to a contributor and leader, according to CCICED's Special Policy Study Report sent to the Global Times.

It's time for China to take a more proactive role in building a fair, rational, cooperative and mutually beneficial global climate governance, it read.

At the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Katowice, Poland in December 2018, Chinese delegations made great contributions to the adoption of the guidelines for implementing the landmark 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement.

Kate Hampton, CEO of Children's Investment Fund Foundation, said at the forum that she hopes new energy vehicles from China will drive on the roads in London.

Hampton quoted Chinese President Xi Jinping's words saying that one should not just retreat to the harbor when encountering a storm, for this will never get us to the other shore of the ocean.

 "We expect that countries together could lead the work on the climate change, low-carbon transition and sustainable development," Wang Yi, a member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China, said during the forum.

Wang, also a vice president of Institutes of Science and Development under Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that currently global uncertainty has switched from climate concerns to worries over the economy, which calls for multilateral cooperative leadership.

Despite the discussions on climate change, attendants also talked about biodiversity, water and China's green transformation.

The CCICED annual general meeting will officially kick off on Monday. Hangzhou will host the World Environment Day on Wednesday.