At the beginning of this year, Portugal was hit by the most devastating depression in decades. China expressed its solidarity and immediately offered deep condolences. Chinese companies and the Chinese community residing in Portugal expressed, in various ways, their supportive support for the affected regions. The environmental and climate crisis is increasingly becoming a challenge of great importance for the survival and development of Humanity. Building a community together for all life on Earth is not only about the well-being and survival of current generations, but also the survival and development of future generations.
China is the largest developing country in the world, with a population of more than 1.4 billion people. Since the Reform and Opening, it has entered a phase of accelerated industrialization. Its economic, scientific and technological power has been constantly reinforced. The comprehensive national strength continues to increase, the people’s living standard continues to improve, but it also faces increasingly serious ecological problems such as air pollution, soil erosion, resource depletion and desertification.
More than 20 years ago, when President Xi Jinping worked in Zhejiang Province, he proposed the important concept that “clear waters and green mountains are mountains of gold and silver”. Since the 18th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), China has considered the construction of ecological civilization as an important element of the country’s governance, integrating it into the Five-Spheres Integrated Plan in the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Today, such a “Two Mountains” theory has become consensus and action throughout Chinese society, constituting an important part of the New Development Concept. The construction of ecological civilization in China is constantly achieving new breakthroughs and achievements.
Firstly, the green development model has distinct characteristics. Green development consists, in essence, of resolving the issue of harmonious coexistence between human beings and nature.
China advocates firmly following the path of ecological priority and green development, actively encouraging new quality productive forces and promoting in a coordinated manner the reduction of carbon emissions, the fight against pollution, the expansion of greenery and economic growth, building a modernization in which human beings and nature coexist in harmony.
China has actively optimized the energy supply structure and built the world’s largest renewable energy system. Its installed capacity for photovoltaic and wind energy has ranked first in the world for ten consecutive years and its installed capacity for hydroelectric and biomass energy also remains firmly in first place worldwide. In total electricity consumption, one in every 3kWh consumed comes from renewable sources.
China has made a determined effort to combat pollution, transforming blue skies, clear waters and pristine soil from an ideal into reality. China is already one of the countries with the fastest air quality improvement in the world. It achieved the reforestation of more than 6.6 million hectares, constituting a quarter of the world’s reforestation area.
Secondly, the ecological lifestyle is gradually prevailing. In China, high-energy-efficiency green home appliances and electric vehicles are already covered by the subsidy policy for the repossession of old goods, leading the green lifestyle trend. Between 2024 and 2025, 18.3 million vehicles were repossessed, of which almost 60% are electric vehicles; 192 million household appliances were also recalled, of which more than 90% are level 1 energy efficiency class (China Energy Label or China Water Efficiency Label). The benefits of ecological policies continue to translate into the well-being of the population, boosting the sale of consumer goods worth 3.92 billion yuan (Chinese currency) and 494 million transactions.
Chinese consumers are increasingly practicing an ecological lifestyle, from reusing their own bags when shopping, avoiding the use of disposable cutlery, using shared bicycles and public transport, to recycling used goods and “Clean Plate CampaignThis new ecological trend brings together the consensus and strength of the entire population in environmental protection.
Third, the concept of ecological transition serves as a reference for global sustainable development. The construction of China’s ecological civilization breaks with the obsolete framework of traditional industrial civilization in addressing ecological and environmental problems. China does not follow the old path of “pollute first and treat later”, but rather, from the perspective that humans and nature form a community of harmony, defends the sustainable development of Humanity through green, circular and low-carbon development, providing a useful reference for other countries in the world.
In 2016, the then Ministry of Environmental Protection of China and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) jointly launched, during the 2nd UN General Assembly on the Environment, the report Clean Waters and Green Mountains are Golden and Silver Mountains: China Strategy and Action on Ecological Civilizationsystematically presenting China’s practice of combining ecological protection with economic development through the “Two Mountains” theory.
Achim Steiner, the then executive director of UNEP, assessed that China’s ecological civilization construction constitutes a fruitful exploration and concrete practice of the concept of sustainable development, providing a reference experience for other countries facing similar economic, environmental and social challenges.
Fourth, green and low-carbon development outcomes bridge the global “green gap”. As the world’s largest developing country and a responsible power, China firmly supports the Paris Agreementeffectively fulfills its commitments to combat climate change and continually reinforces its national contributions, having always been a firm defender of global climate governance.
Since the 18th CPC National Congress, China has achieved a cumulative 27.2% decrease in energy consumption per ten thousand yuan of GDP, becoming one of the countries with the fastest reduction in energy intensity in the world. It supports an average annual economic growth of 6.1% based on an average annual energy consumption growth of 3.3%, making an important contribution to energy savings and the reduction of emissions at a global level.
In September 2025, President Xi Jinping announced, in Climate Summit 2025 from the UN that China will reduce its economy-wide net greenhouse gas emissions by 7% to 10% from the peak level, striving to do even better, which fully demonstrated China’s climate ambition.
The Earth is the common home of Humanity, and no country can exempt itself from responsibilities. In terms of green development, Portugal is at the forefront of Europe, with a well-defined green industrial structure, highlighted advantages in renewable energy and firm and vigorous political support, being an active participant and an important contributor to global green development.
China is willing to strengthen the articulation of green development strategies with Portugal, promote the complementarity of advantages in this area, strengthen cooperation in third markets and face global challenges such as climate change, jointly building a community for all life on Earth and actively contributing to a clean and beautiful world.
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