UN environment chief hails China’s ‘massive’ achievements in green, low-carbon development

China’s unremitting efforts in shifting to clean energy, improving biodiversity, and advancing green transition have won high praise from Inger Andersen, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), who hailed the country’s achievements as “massive” in a recent interview with China Media Group (CMG).

Andersen, who has been to China many times over the years with her first trip in 1990, said she has witnessed the country’s extraordinary transformation – from rapid economic growth to remarkable progress in sustainable development.

“I’ve had the privilege of visiting this beautiful and massive country over a long period of time, and so of course seen rapid, rapid development in the last 20 years or so, and accelerating in the last 10, I should say. But the contribution clearly is, I mean what was in China, a country that was entirely reliant on coal in distributed and highly polluting settings, have made massive, massive, massive movements on renewables.”

Her remarks came as China continues to deepen its commitment to achieving carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals, with renewable energy capacity expanding at an unprecedented pace.

The country is now home to the world’s largest solar and wind power generation facilities, while also promoting eco-friendly industrial practices and nature conservation efforts.

Andersen said she was deeply impressed by China’s latest solar energy projects, particularly those built in high-altitude regions, which demonstrate both innovation and scale.

“Some of the latest investments that we’re seeing in the high solar in the mountainous area in the interior of the country. I was just reading an article in today’s newspaper in another country that speaks to the fact that it is equivalent, the latest installed capacity just at the high solar, the elevated solar, because it’s at a mountain height where the air is pure and thin, so you get higher solar intensity. It corresponds to something like six Manhattans in terms of the size of these things. And so that is installed in no time, and of course wind as well as hydro[power]. That’s a massive achievement. But I will say on biodiversity it’s also big, very big. So I was really pleased to see in this international conference of CCICED, the plans that are going into the 15th Five-Year Plan that will start in 2026, because this plan speaks about zero waste, and this is a very exciting new chapter that China is opening as well,” she said.

United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) Executive Director Inger Andersen has endorsed China’s Global Governance Initiative (GGI) as a timely push for multilateral climate action, calling it a powerful signal of leadership amid mounting global environmental challenges.

The GGI, presented by Chinese President Xi Jinping, calls for a more just and equitable global governance system and urges international cooperation to tackle global challenges, including climate change.

In an interview with China Media Group in Beijing on Oct. 16, Andersen said China’s commitment to multilateral dialogue provides crucial momentum for addressing climate-related challenges.

“When we see a leader of a major nation such as China stepping up and say ‘Look, these issues take global conversations, and the global conversations happen in multilateralism,’ that’s obviously something that gives us strength, because these problems are of a global dimension and they need global solutions,” Andersen said.

“So we have to think about this as one nation on this planet, one nation of humans under the big flag of the United Nations. Of course, we are but one people at the end of the day, interdependent and dependent on this planet and on the climate that it has. So looking at equitable and just transitions, looking at the commitments that we make and making that a core pillar of paradigm of thinking and therefore development paradigm is very significant. But as I said, when a leader steps forward and makes those clear declarations, it echoes, which I think from a United Nations’ perspective is very welcome,” she added.