China, making a major strategic decision to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060, has been widely appraised by the international society. The decision is a move that sustains the development of the Chinese nation and builds a community with a shared future for mankind.

China's Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) for National Economic and Social Development and the Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035 demonstrates to the world the country's firm resolution to progress toward green development and harmonious coexistence between human and nature. It indicates China's major country responsibility to protect the Earth and strive for sustainable development.

China was the first country to raise and firmly practice the notion of an ecological civilization featuring harmonious coexistence between human and nature, and has achieved remarkable progress with unwavering resolve.

Two photos shared by a deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, from Qinghai province attracted wide public attention during the just-concluded "two sessions," the annual meetings of the NPC and the country's top political advisory body the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). The photos showed a Chinese mountain cat walking in the bushes and a snow leopard roaming in the woods, respectively. The presence of these rare species exactly indicated the progress achieved by China regarding ecological and environmental protection.

The country delivered a remarkable ecological performance during the 13th Five-Year Plan period, or the last five years. With enhanced efforts of pollution control, it over-fulfilled its target of reducing major pollutant emission. Besides, the country also significantly improved its efficiency of resource utilization, as well as ecological environment.

A Bloomberg report recently introduced how China covered its land with forests over the past a dozen years, and Jean-Francois Donzier, director of the International Office for Water of France, also complimented China's environmental protection achievements, saying the country has contributed wisdom and strength to the harmonious coexistence between human and nature.

Ecological protection means productivity protection, and environmental improvement means greater productivity, said Chinese President Xi Jinping during an inspection tour to Hainan province in 2013. A good ecological environment is the fairest public product, and the most accessible welfare for the people, he said.

Xi's remarks have long been turned into concrete actions. As China rapidly expands its green economy, the international society is increasingly attracted by the country's ecological progress led by science-based philosophies.

The Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) for National Economic and Social Development and the Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035 has received worldwide attention. It further charts the course for China's green development, and makes systematic top-level design for the country to improve ecological quality and stability, enhance environmental quality, and green its development models in a faster manner.

Clifford Cobb, editor-in-chief of American Journal of Economics and Sociology, believes that China has blazed a new trail in the construction of ecological civilization, setting a model for other countries in terms of pollution control.

China's efforts to green its economic and social development are a huge contribution to global sustainable development.

The Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) for National Economic and Social Development and the Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035 made it clear that China will scale up its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions in response to climate change by 2030. By incorporating peaking carbon dioxide emissions and achieving carbon neutrality into its general plan for ecological progress, China will make more contributions to the global climate governance.

It's great that China is making climate a priority and wants to work with other countries on this, said Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Ecological conservation and environmental protection benefit future generations. The Chinese people believe that when the interests of the entire humanity are at stake, China must step forward, take action, and get the job done.

It is believed that embarking on a new journey, China will keep practicing the idea that "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets." It will also give priority to ecological conservation and green development, and work with other countries to jointly build a clean and beautiful world.