CPAFFC Delegation Attends“Climate & Territories”Summit in France

At the Climate and Territories world sununit held in Lyon in July 2015，French President Francois Hollande applauded China’s commitment to reducing carbon intensity in the process ofits economic growth.

In his speech made after the“May- or’s Round Table”， Hollande said more than 40 countries had made promises in their own Intended Nationally De-termined Contributions so far. China’s commitment， he said，“has added great-er weight to these promises”.

The Lyon event was organized by various local governments around the world and Rhone-Alpes region of France within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The meeting， held before the Paris Climate Change Conference and mainly focusing on this topic， brought together many local authorities and non-govemmental organizations.

Three round tables were held in succession after the opening ceremony，including one for entrepreneurs， one for young volunteers and a third for mayors.

China has made the promise that it will reduce its carbon emissions by cutting down on thermal power stations and even stopping the use of coal in some existing plants.

From July l to July 2 at the invita-tion of Jean-Jack Queyranne， president of the Rhone-Alpes region， Mr. Song Jingwu， vice president of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) who led the Chinese delegation， addressed the Mayor’s Round Table.

Many important figures attended the summit， including French President Francois Hollande， French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius， Executive Secretary of the United Nations Frame-work Convention on Climate Change Christiana Figueres and Vice President of the European Comnussion in Charge of Energy Union Maros Sefcovic.

President Hollande made a speech on policies and measures taken by France to cope with climate change and reach the targeted goals to be set at the Paris Climate Change Conference.

In his concluding speech， Minister Fabius said that the present situa-tion， six months before the Paris event， was prom-ising in that rel-evant countries had reached consensus and were determined to sign an agree-ment with the highest goals to meet global ex-pectations. He also noted that both China and the US， two major sources of emis-sions， had made promises of drastic cuts. The promise made by China， he said， was of great significance.

CPAFFC Vice President Song’s presentation about China's relevant policies received a warm response at the Mayor’s Round Table. French media re-ported his remarks in detail.

More than 800 guests attended the conference， including leaders from over 80 countries and regions， such as the mayors of Istanbul， Geneva and Dakar，the governor of Baden-Wurttemberg，the minister for environment and cli-mate change of Scotland and the vice governor of China’s Hubei province，NGO members and business represen-tatives.