China, EU businesses launch initiative to support carbon-neutrality commitments

BRUSSELS - Representatives from the business sector launched on Thursday an initiative to support the commitments of China and the European Union (EU) to green and sustainable development.

The Green Action Initiative was presented at an online forum called China-EU Green Economic Cooperation and Development Summit.

Thursday's summit drew hundreds of business leaders, banking experts, researchers and high-level officials, including former president of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy and Luxembourg's Minister of Finance Pierre Gramegna, to discuss the importance of cooperation in green transition and ways to facilitate the growth of green finance.

The summit "stands united in supporting China and the EU to timely achieve their domestic goals, also in view that their action and cooperation on these matters will benefit the international community," read the initiative.

"The participants to the Summit aim to contribute and to reach climate neutrality within the foreseen deadlines," it added.

In his speech at the summit, Xu Haifeng, chairman of both Bank of China (Luxembourg) S.A. and the China Chamber of Commerce to the European Union (CCCEU), urged all relevant enterprises to join forces and subscribe to the initiative.

"Climate change and the transition to greener and more sustainable growth are surely key areas in which Sino-European cooperation can change the future of the planet," he told the summit.

China seeks to have CO2 emissions peak before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. The EU aims to become climate neutral by 2050, and reduce at least 55 percent net emissions by 2030 compared to 1990 levels.

In an effort to reach the ambitious target, the European Commission is to release a package dubbed "Fit for 55" next week to update the bloc's Emission Trading Scheme.