by Wu Siya

BEIJING, Oct. 16 (China Economic Net) - Faced with a series of global challenges, South-South cooperation is crucial for developing countries to mitigate and adapt to climate change and achieve sustainable development goals.

The 2024 Green Opening-up and South-South Cooperation report [Photo/CCICED]

At the 2024 Annual General Meeting of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development: Building a Green BRI to Advance Global South-South Cooperation that held in Beijing on October 11, global guests held heated discussions on topics including strengthening cooperation among developing countries in the fields of environment and climate, and innovating models and paths for global ecological collaboration.

Climate change is a common challenge faced by all mankind, with the vast majority of developing countries are responding to the dual challenges of development as well as climate change, releasing huge demands in infrastructure construction and production development. The Adaptation Gap Report 2023 released by the United Nations Environment Program pointed out that the funding gap required for developing countries to adapt to climate change is as high as USD 194 billion to USD 366 billion per year.

Green and low-carbon development is the international trend and the general trend. Carlos Ernesto Augustin, special adviser to the Minister of Agriculture and Livestock of Brazil, noted that as a major agricultural country, Brazil plans to restore 40 million hectares of low-yield degraded land and transform it into high-productivity areas. To ensure the feasibility of the plan, Brazil is actively seeking cooperation from the international community.

So far, China has actively established green and low-carbon development cooperation mechanisms with countries and international organizations participating in the Belt and Road Initiative to jointly address climate change.

Statistics show that China has signed 53 memorandums of understanding on South-South cooperation on climate change with 42 developing countries, and has trained more than 3,000 ecological and environmental management personnel from more than 120 countries. Through the implementation of the African Light Belt project and the joint construction of low-carbon demonstration zones, China has provided practical help to developing countries in improving their ability to address climate change.

World-renowned economics professor Jeffrey Sachs emphasized that the current era requires accelerated energy transformation to achieve a zero-carbon future. “China’s strong production capacity can provide the world with much-needed green, clean and digital infrastructure. The Belt and Road Initiative is an important mechanism to promote these transformation projects and accelerate the global transformation process.”

The conference released a special policy research report on "Green Opening-up and South-South Cooperation", and put forward a series of policy recommendations, including strengthening the China-ASEAN regional strategic partnership in clean and green energy development and energy infrastructure connectivity, exploring China-Africa cooperation in sustainable trade, green industrialization, key minerals and other fields, and leveraging China-Brazil green cooperation opportunities through high-level dialogue mechanisms.