Xi will address summit on UN Paris agreement

President Xi Jinping is set to deliver a speech at the virtual Climate Ambition Summit 2020 on Saturday, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying announced on Friday.

Xi's participation was at the joint invitation of United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Chilean President Sebastian Pinera and Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, Hua said.

As a monumental step on the road to the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties to be hosted by the United Kingdom next year in Glasgow, the summit will bring leaders together who are ready to make new commitments to tackle climate change and deliver on the Paris agreement, five years after it was adopted on Dec 12, 2015.

According to the summit's website, countries will set out new and ambitious commitments under the three pillars of the Paris agreement－mitigation, adaptation and financial commitments－which will help to work toward a green and resilient recovery from COVID-19.

In a big move for global climate action, Xi pledged in September that China would reach peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060.