Nigel Toping: "Ecological civilization" is a beautiful and unique Gift from China

LONDON, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- Interview: "Ecological Civilization" is a poetically beautiful and unique gift from China – Visit Nigel Topping, a high-level advocate for climate action at the 26th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

Xinhua News Agency reporter Guo Shuang Martina Fox

"One of the most exciting ideas from China is ecological civilization." Nigel Topping, a high-level advocate for climate action at the 26th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua News Agency a few days ago that the Chinese concepts of "a community with a shared future for mankind" and "ecological civilization" "have a beautiful poetry, to some extent, they are like describing the economy and science in poetic language, which I think may be a unique Chinese gift."

Chinese President Xi Jinping attended the general debate of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly by video in Beijing on September 21 and delivered an important speech, announcing that China will vigorously support the green and low-carbon development of energy in developing countries and will no longer build new offshore coal power projects. In response, Topin, who has just returned to the UNITED Kingdom from this session of the United Nations General Assembly, said that he "very, very welcomes" the speech of the Chinese leader, which is one of the most important news of this session.

"Any action that takes these beautiful Chinese ideas [of ecological civilization] to a bigger stage is really helpful." "We have a very strong need to embed the economy in the ecology, not the other way around," Toppin said. That is to say, the economy must serve the ecology, not the ecology serves the economy. ”

Topin pointed out that more and more countries and regions pursue net zero greenhouse gas emissions, which will form a new type of multilateralism for environmental protection. China's concept of "ecological civilization" will play a crucial role in promoting multilateralism in global biodiversity conservation and environmental protection.

"In fact, my work has its roots in multilateralism," Mr. Toppin said. The role of the High-Level Advocate for Climate Action was created at the Paris Climate Conference to help drive action by countries, regions, cities, businesses, investors, organizations on climate change and to coordinate these efforts with Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the United Kingdom, host of the twenty-sixth Conference of the Parties to the Convention, issued a joint statement in 2020 announcing Topin for this role at the current Conference.

"'Ecological civilization' encapsulates in two words what we are doing together." "Every time I hear the idea of 'ecological civilization,' I think 'yes,' that's what we're trying to build and we have to build," Toppin said. For if we do not actually build an ecological civilization, we are equivalent to continuing to destroy the ecological foundation of civilization and the foundation of human development. ”

The fifteenth conference of the parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity and the twenty-sixth conference of the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change will be held in Kunming, China, and Glasgow, United Kingdom, respectively. Toppin said the expectation that the two conferences could be "a turning point in action over the next decade."

"Our goal is to build an ecological civilization, a renewable civilization. In this civilization, our economy and way of life can restore ecosystems, restore our lakes and rivers, and restore climate. "What I expect is to be able to act in real terms, which is in the interest of all of us, and more unity is needed." ”

Topin noted that China has led many innovations in addressing climate change. For example, in the field of new energy vehicles, the electric buses of Chinese companies BYD are popular in many parts of the world. In terms of the construction of green financial systems, people are increasingly talking about the necessity of the "Belt and Road" green development partnership initiative.

"In the post-pandemic era, there is a huge investment demand for emerging and developing countries. I believe that China plays an important role in how to achieve green international development. Topin said. (Participating reporters: Chen Junxia, Chen Binjie)

Source: Xinhua Net