Minister of Ecology and Environment Huang Runqiu attended the first African Climate Summit

From September 4th to 6th, the first African Climate Summit was held in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. The summit was co-hosted by the African Union Commission and the Kenyan government, with the theme of "Promoting Green Development and Climate Financing in Africa and Globally." Kenyan President Ruto attended the opening ceremony of the summit and delivered a speech. Huang Runqiu, Minister of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China, was invited to attend the opening ceremony of the Summit Day and delivered a speech.

In his speech, Huang Runqiu introduced China's progress and achievements in responding to climate change and promoting green, low-carbon and sustainable development in recent years. He said that Chinese President Xi Jinping emphasized that addressing climate change is not what others ask us to do, but what we have to do ourselves. As the largest developing country, China has proposed a carbon peak and carbon neutrality goal, released the National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy 2035, and taken forceful actions. It has not only made positive progress in achieving domestic goals, but also greatly reduced global renewable energy. Energy costs have contributed to a quarter of the world's new green area, making a huge contribution to the global response to climate change, and demonstrating its responsibility in promoting the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind.

Huang Runqiu pointed out that climate change is a global challenge and only unity and cooperation can effectively deal with it. As the region most vulnerable to climate change in the world, Africa is an indispensable and important force in global climate governance and action. China actively carries out South-South cooperation on climate change, jointly issued the China-Africa Declaration on Cooperation in Addressing Climate Change, actively promotes African countries to build low-carbon and climate change adaptation demonstration zones, supports the implementation of the "Great Green Wall" plan, and cooperates with 15 African countries Signing a memorandum of understanding on cooperation on climate change, China-Africa climate cooperation has achieved great results. China plans to develop and implement the "Africa Light Belt" project of South-South cooperation to address climate change, assist relevant African countries in developing and utilizing solar energy resources, help solve the problem of electricity consumption, and help achieve green and low-carbon development.

Huang Runqiu said that President Xi Jinping recently launched the "Supporting African Industrialization Initiative" at the China-Africa Leaders' Dialogue and proposed new measures to strengthen China-Africa cooperation such as the "China's Plan to Assist Africa's Agricultural Modernization" and the "China-Africa Talent Training Cooperation Plan". China is willing to work with African countries to explore and deepen China-Africa cooperation in addressing climate change and sustainable development, and jointly promote the green and low-carbon modernization process. China calls on developed countries to take the initiative to shoulder their historical responsibilities, increase support for developing countries, especially African countries, and fulfill their commitment to provide at least US$100 billion in climate finance to developing countries every year as soon as possible.

As President of the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Huang Runqiu called on all parties to pay attention to the synergy between biodiversity protection and climate change response, and promote the "Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework" (hereinafter (referred to as the "Kunmeng Framework") is fully implemented to jointly build an earth home where man and nature coexist harmoniously.

During the summit, Huang Runqiu was also invited to attend multiple themed forums such as "Investing in Nature and Biodiversity", "Intensifying Adaptation to Climate Change" and "Adaptation Contract".

Huang Runqiu pointed out that China actively fulfills its responsibilities as the chairmanship, joins hands with the international community to promote the effective implementation of the "Kunming-Mongolia Framework" and various decisions of the COP15 conference, and promotes the recovery of global biodiversity. All parties should act in a timely manner to speed up the revision of the national biodiversity strategy and action plan, strengthen the guarantee of financial resources, and look forward to developed countries implementing their commitments and promoting the "Kunming-Mongolia Framework Fund" to be launched as soon as possible and to fully play its role. China will initiate the implementation initiative of the "Kunming Framework" and give full play to the role of the "Kunming Biodiversity Fund" to provide developing countries with the assistance it can.

Huang Runqiu said that China has always insisted on attaching equal importance to mitigation and adaptation, actively helped developing countries strengthen their adaptive capabilities, and jointly developed and implemented early warning cooperation projects under the framework of South-South cooperation on climate change. All parties should accelerate the formulation of a global adaptation goal framework and make long-term institutional arrangements under the Paris Agreement, accelerate the operation of the loss and damage fund, continuously improve the construction of the Santiago network mechanism, and further strengthen international exchanges and cooperation. Developed countries should effectively strengthen financial, technological and capacity-building support for developing countries to adapt to climate change, further reflect the balance between adaptation and mitigation support, and clarify a roadmap for doubling adaptation funds by 2025 compared with 2019 levels.

21 African heads of state and government, including the rotating chairperson of the African Union and President of the Comoros Assoumani, as well as the United Nations Secretary-General Guterres, the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program Anderson, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (hereinafter referred to as the "United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change") Steele, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Sultan, President-elect of the 28th Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP28), Faki, Chairman of the African Union Commission, and Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, attended the summit. The summit reached the Nairobi Declaration of African Leaders on Climate Change and Action.

During the summit, Huang Runqiu also met with Global Adaptation Center Chairman Ban Ki-moon and CEO Patrick, former Ethiopian Prime Minister Desalegn, former Ugandan Prime Minister Rugunda, Kenya’s Special Envoy for Climate Change Mohammed Anderson, Sultan, and the US President on Climate Affairs. Special Envoy Kerry, State Secretary of the German Foreign Ministry and Special Envoy for Climate Change Morgan, and Chairman of the Children's Investment Foundation Han Peidong held bilateral talks.

Chinese Ambassador to Kenya Zhou Pingjian and representatives from relevant departments of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment attended the summit and related talks.