File photo (Xinhua/AFP)
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- Governor Jerry Brown of the U.S. state of California said Wednesday that the whole world must work together to achieve the goals on carbon emission cuts.
The climate issue, though a very big problem, "can become salvation if we open our hearts and minds to both the threat and all the different initiatives and solutions we have to embrace," the governor said at the opening ceremony of the China Pavilion ahead of the 2018 Global Climate Action Summit scheduled for Thursday here.
"China has taken this Global Summit very, very seriously and we hope to build on that in months and years ahead as California, the U.S. and China's Jiangsu Province in particular will work even more closely to combat climate change," said the governor.
Brown suggested that one of the solutions to climate change is to develop the new economy. For example, the state government encourages automobile companies to make more electric cars to help fight the climate challenge.
Xie Zhenhua, special representative for climate change affairs of China, said that China has made the fight against climate change a major strategy of its economic and social development.
China's gross domestic product grew 1.5 times between 2005 and 2017, but its carbon emissions have fallen by 46 percent, which reached in advance the goal of cutting by 40 percent to 45 percent carbon emissions by the year 2020, Xie said.
China is an active player in global climate governance, which has made major contributions to not only the Paris Agreement on climate change, but also bilateral and multilateral cooperation in addressing the climate challenge, Xie said.
He said that China will continue to bring into full play the role of local governments, businesses and public organizations in developing a green economy and low carbon technology to find a green, low-carbon development path suitable to the national conditions of the 1.4-billion population country.
Xie reaffirmed China's commitment to the goal set forth in the Paris Agreement by making tangible contributions to the global fight against climate change.
Speaking on the same occasion, former U.S. Vice President Al Gore praised China's active and leading role in taking action against global climate change.
"China's leadership has been truly outstanding and I want to repeat the gratitude that people around the world feel for China and California," Gore said.
The 2018 Global Climate Action Summit set for Thursday is expected to gather more than 4,500 representatives from states, regions, cities, businesses as well as investors for discussions on policy and measures to bring down emissions.