Brussels, 09/02/2012 (Agence Europe) - Green growth is an objective shared by the EU and China which, according to European Environment Commissioner Janez Potocnik, is good news for the environment, the economy and the planet as a whole. The 4th EU-China Political Dialogue in Brussels on 8 February, with China's Environment Minister Zhou Shengxian, showed that there was “increasing convergence between the EU and China when it comes to environmental protection”. This is promising for the next EU-China summit (Beijing, 14 February) and for two major events on the international agenda: the UN summit on sustainable development, Rio+20, in June, and the 11th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 11) on biological diversity (8-19 October, Hyderabad, India).
“As we are both looking to move away from global economic slowdown to renewed economic growth, we realise that our growth model should not lead us into another crisis for not respecting the planet's boundaries. It is not only the economy - it's what kind of economy that counts”, the commissioner said, asserting that the EU and China will “build on this positive agenda (…) including on areas such as international climate action”, Potocnik said.
Both parties agreed there was a “need to develop a green economy and to ensure good quality growth alongside growth in sufficient quantity”.
China noted the role played by market instruments in protection of the environment and underlined the importance of exploring future EU-China cooperation in the field of green economic policies.
“It is encouraging to see that environment has been put at the heart of China's economic growth model. With their 12th Five-Year Plan and our EUROPE 2020 growth strategy we are working in parallel to build resource-efficient and environmentally-friendly societies”, Potocnik said. (AN/transl.jl)