Photo: Lu Ting/GT

China's Special Envoy for Climate Change Xie Zhenhua on Tuesday called for people to help with efforts to grow trees to confront the climate crisis in a speech at a forum in East China's Shandong Province.

The "New Era - I Plant a Tree for the Climate" special event, organized by the All-China Environment Federation and supported by the China Green Foundation, was held in Yantai, East China's Shandong Province on Tuesday.

Xie said in his video speech that responding to climate change is a common mission and responsibility for all humanity, an intrinsic requirement for sustainable development, and an international obligation that must be fulfilled. Only through everyone's best efforts and cooperation in accelerating green and low-carbon transformation and innovation can humanity have a future and the earth have hope.

He pointed out that "I Plant a Tree for the Climate" is an effective way to mobilize society to achieve China's goal of planting and nurturing 70 billion trees within ten years.

"Let us take action to cultivate vast forests, build a green earth, jointly respond to the climate crisis, and contribute to the construction of ecological civilization in China and globally," he said.

The "I Plant a Tree for the Climate" campaign was jointly established by the China Green Foundation and the All-China Environment Federation this year. It is committed to mobilizing social forces to promote afforestation, protection and promotion of superior tree species, biodiversity protection, advocacy for ecological civilization education and publicity. It aims to promote the achievement of carbon neutrality and peak carbon dioxide emission goals, and jointly contribute to the goal of planting, restoring, and conserving 70 billion trees by 2030.

The event was part of the 15th Forum on Environment and Development and the 2023 China International Ecological Environment Technology and Equipment Expo, which concluded on Wednesday. The three-day forum attracted academicians and experts in the field of ecological and environmental protection, heads of relevant government departments, foreign diplomats stationed in China, and representatives of ecological and environmental protection enterprises.

At a concurrently held expo, a total of 104 exhibitors participated, covering an exhibition area of 20,000 square meters, mainly showcasing China's ecological and environmental innovation technologies and equipment achievements.

Xie and US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry met in Beijing from July 16 to 19 and at Sunnylands, California from November 4 to 7, and released "The Sunnylands Statement on Enhancing Cooperation to Address the Climate Crisis" on Wednesday, according to the Xinhau News Agency.