China supports UN green industry initiative

Edited and translated by People's Daily Online

The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) issued a green economy report appealing to all nations to develop green industry, abandon resource-intensive economic modes and cope with different challenges in sustainable development.

The report, titled "Toward a Green Economy: Pathways to Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication," showed that China, the world's second largest economy, is also the world's leading investor in renewable energy, overtaking Spain in 2009 and spending 49 billion U.S. dollars in 2010.

China is committed to spending 468 billion U.S. dollars in the next five years, more than double the previous five years, on key industries, such as renewable energy, clean technologies and waste management.

The facts in the report are attributed to the investigation of hundreds of experts all over the world in last three years. It received a three-month public review before it was published.

In order to realize the shift from a brown, contaminative and inefficient economy to a green one, it is necessary for China to invest 2 percent of the annual global GDP in 10 pivotal economic sectors, such as agriculture, energy, construction and manufacturing, according to the report.