The Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference is being held from March 25 to 28, 2025 in South China's Hainan Province. Photo: Liu Yang/GT
As the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2025 is being held in Boao, South China's Hainan Province, a tropical island full of green and low-carbon facilities, climate change and the green transition became hot topics among officials, business executives and scholars during Wednesday's sub-forums, and they also hailed China's contribution to the global energy transition.
During a sub-forum with the theme of "Energy transition for a sustainable and shared future," Zhang Jun, secretary-general of the BFA, said that the forum attaches great importance to combating global climate change, promoting the implementation of the sustainable development goals, and pushing the world to take the path of sustainable, high-quality and green development in its economic transformation.
The transformation of the energy sector is related to how to solve the damage that the global ecosystem is facing, and how to let our children and grandchildren survive sustainably in the next few decades and centuries, which is really a big issue of life and death, so I think this is something that must be done, and it is also a necessary way for any country to realize sustainable development, Zhang noted.
Patricio Contesse, vice chairman of the board, SQM, a Chilean mining and chemical company, said during the sub-forum that we need free trade, an open economy and a better distribution of resources to realize the new energy transition in a rational and appropriate way.
During another sub-forum also held on Wednesday, Liu Zhenmin, China's Special Envoy for Climate Change, said that in order to achieve carbon neutrality by mid-century, the world needs a friendly trade environment and a favorable market environment so that technology and capital around climate change can flow freely.
Zhu Min, vice chairman of the China Centre for International Economic Exchanges, said that China has set dual carbon goals of peaking carbon emissions before 2030 and attaining carbon neutrality before 2060. In his view, the goal of peaking carbon emissions will be realized two to three years ahead of schedule, in about 2027 or 2028.
Zhu noted that renewable energy is half the cost of burning coal. With its cost-effective advantages, we will deploy renewable energy at a fast pace. Moreover, China utilizes carbon emissions trading to push industries like the glass and steel sectors to explore green and low-carbon paths, Zhu noted.
Participants in the BFA also highlighted China's contribution to the global green transition.
Siddharth Chatterjee, UN Resident Coordinator in China, told the Global Times on Wednesday that "China is rapidly moving on to a green economy. I see firsthand how air pollution has been virtually eradicated from Beijing, and it is a top-class model of what other countries can aspire for... Most importantly, China is sharing its knowledge. I believe China can very easily achieve carbon peaking before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2026."
"The green transition,energy supply changes... and aging of populations are dramatic factors in all your parties in the world. In these areas, I cannot see any obstacles for cooperation [between China and Finland]," Esko Aho, former prime minister of Finland, told the Global Times, noting that the two economies are very complementary and Finland can learn from China and get green products and services from China.
Michele Geraci, former undersecretary of state at the Italian Ministry of Economic Development, also hailed China's efforts to push the green economy. "China is now the country that is way ahead in the development of renewable energy... It is a pioneer in the development of green technology on the supply side, but also on the demand side," Geraci told the Global Times on Wednesday.
"The green transition is good for economic development. This is the message, and this is the cooperation that we need to have between countries and between companies," he noted.
