Stientje van Veldhoven, the vice president of the World Resources Institute (WRI), highlighted the growing role of China-European Union (EU) cooperation in driving green transition efforts and shaping sustainable development worldwide amid evolving global climate governance.
In an exclusive interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN) in Beijing, van Veldhoven stressed how joint leadership between China and the EU is pivotal in accelerating these efforts.
"First of all, the World Resources Institute (WRI), where I work, we did some research on how much of global CO2 emissions are actually still under the Paris Agreement, even after the withdrawal of the United States. And well, of course it is bad news, still nearly 90 percent of all global emissions still fall under the Paris Agreement. It does mean, however, that the relative share of both EU and Chinese emissions in this overall percentage has become more important. And that also means that in the global governance of climate and of combating climate change, it will become more important, the leadership of both China and EU. And if they can do it together, they'll be even stronger I think," said van Veldhoven.
Van Veldhoven noted that both China and the EU have integrated the green transition into their long-term economic strategies, positioning themselves as global leaders in clean energy, innovation, and environmental action.
"The last European Commission clearly made the green transition a very important part of Europe's economic developments. And of course, this European Commission is faced with very different challenges. At the same time, it is very clear that the green transition will continue to be an incredibly important part of Europe's economic development. We are expecting Commissioner Hoekstra, who is responsible for Europe's climate policies, to announce on July 2, that the EU will have an ambitious target for 2040. We hope it will be 90 percent. And so this clearly shows that Europe sees competitiveness and the green transition as the same. But what I've seen from China is that you also very clearly have made this green transition a cornerstone of your future economic development. And therefore, I think if it leads to very important economies, these two very important markets also, join forces in also setting the frameworks for the rest of the world through their trade relations, through their bilateral relations, but also their relations with other parts of the world," she said.
When asked about China's potential role in global climate governance, van Veldhoven pointed to its technological innovation and swift clean energy deployment.
"Relatively speaking, with the U.S. stepping aside, there's now only two big markets basically that drive this entire transition. Europe has been driving it very clearly from a political point of view. I think China has combined both a very strong political and a very strong economic drive in this transition, and that is only becoming more important. I think both Europe and China also have that responsibility coming from the place that we now hold in the world and China is growing so fast and your economy being so strong, especially also in the development of these clean technologies to make sure that the world also has the technology and has the ability to move forward and to drive development. I think without the large scale developments that China puts into, for example, decreasing the price of solar panels or this fast innovation that you have in electric vehicles, the transition would not go as fast as it goes around the world," she said.
China-EU cooperation key in driving global climate action, green transition: expert
