Forum to showcase Guizhou's efforts to promote green development

Guizhou province, home to a sprawling cloud computing industry, is poised to showcase its progress in advancing cleaner development via the Eco Forum Global Guiyang 2023, which will open on Saturday in the provincial capital Guiyang, an official said.

The two-day event features a series of events including exhibitions, field studies and contract-signing ceremonies for a host of projects in renewable energy and eco-friendly materials, among other fields, Vice-Governor Yang Tongguang told a news conference on Monday in Beijing.

The exhibitions will display a range of products and services with the promise of reduced carbon emissions, cleaner production and waste recycling, he said.

"The forum will demonstrate Guizhou's green development achievements in an all-around fashion to a global audience," said Yang, who is also deputy director of the forum's executive committee.

Authorities in Guiyang hosted its first such forum in 2009, and in 2013, the event emerged as an international convention with a focus on promoting ecological civilization.

Over time, the meetings have become a vehicle to forge global partnerships and exchanges in environmental protection, curb carbon emissions and fight climate change, the vice-governor said.

The forum, which is expected to include over 2,500 participants this year, also serves as an important avenue for promoting Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization, which calls for promoting the harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature; serving China's strategic diplomatic goals; showcasing the green development achievements of all countries; and bolstering ecological conservation worldwide, Yang said.

Speaking at the news conference, Wang Zhibin, director of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment's ecological conservation division, said the Thought has significantly altered Chinese people's perspectives and actions related to environmental protection, and it is part of the Chinese wisdom of achieving sustainable development.

He said that the average concentration of PM2.5 — particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers or less — in major cities across the country dropped 34.9 percent between 2015 and last year, making China the country with the fastest-improving air quality in the world.

In addition, more than 300 animal and plant wild species have been placed under State protection.

"Over the past decade, China has maintained an average economic growth rate of more than 6.6 percent, while the growth rate of its energy consumption has been just 3 percent," Wang said.