News Lounge, the flagship program of China News Service, welcomed its first group of international guests since its overseas debut in Türkiye on Tuesday on the sidelines of COP31 in Antalya. Themed "Ecological Civilization and Beautiful China Practice" and held at the China Pavilion, the side event was jointly hosted by the Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization and China News Service, with the Policy Research Center for Environment and Economy of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and China News Network serving as co-organizers.
At the event, Huang Runqiu, minister of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China, delivered remarks. Li Gao, head of the Chinese Delegation to COP31 and vice minister of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China, presided over the speech session. Hu Jun, director general of the Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization and the Policy Research Center for Environment and Economy of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, and Yu Lan, deputy editor-in-chief of China News Service and president of China News Network, attended the event.
The international guests included Simon Stiell, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change; Chris Bowen, COP31 President of Negotiations and Australian Minister for Climate Change and Energy; and Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency. Drawing on their professional expertise, the guests shared perspectives on global climate governance and discussed opportunities stemming from China's green transition.
Participants agreed that global climate governance requires multilateral cooperation, and China's ongoing ecological and energy transition offers actionable lessons for the world. Simon Stiell spoke highly of China's practical green transition efforts, saying China's energy transition achievements are "like nowhere else on Earth." He noted that China has long been a firm friend of multilateralism and that its South-South cooperation has supported clean energy and climate resilience in many developing countries.
Stewart Maginnis, deputy director-general of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, said what impressed him about China's ecological civilization is not merely a green agenda but a strategic choice and a fundamental asset of coexistence. "People can prosper without undermining the ecosystems that sustain them," he said, adding that China's ecological restoration covers forests, rivers and wetlands and goes beyond tree planting to removing pressures on ecosystems.
Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, highlighted the global trend of electrification and praised China's pioneering efforts in electric vehicles, renewable energy and battery storage. "The world is entering the electric age," Birol said, calling on all countries to build consensus and jointly set targets for electrification. Chris Bowen, president of negotiations for COP31, cited the IEA's Renewables 2025 report, saying global renewable energy capacity will expand by 4,600 gigawatts between 2025 and 2030, with China pivotal thanks to its scale and influence.
Laura Clarke, chief executive officer of ClientEarth, said China has become a global leader in green technology and is showing the major economic opportunities in green and low-carbon sectors. Barbara Vrede, global head of Social Impact and Sustainability Strategy at Novartis, said human and planetary health are closely linked, highlighting Novartis' Sichuan Forestry Carbon Sink, Community and Biodiversity Project, which has established nearly 4,000 hectares of forest, planted about 21 million trees and benefited more than 4,200 households.
Yamide Dagnet, senior vice president, international, at the Natural Resources Defense Council, described COP31 as an "implementation and transition COP" and stressed that climate action must put people at the center. The dialogue leveraged international guests' first-hand accounts to translate China's ecological progress into resonant narratives for a global audience, marking a meaningful breakthrough in News Lounge's international outreach.
