BEIJING, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- As global policymakers hammer out detailed plans to battle climate change at the ongoing Marrakech summit, outside the conference halls, Chinese electric buses are leading the way.
The carbon-free vehicles are official transportation at the 22nd Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP22). Marrakech ordered 50 buses from Yangtze Automobile, the first African city to do so.
Apart from that deal, the Wuhan car maker has an agreement with local companies to invest 150 million U.S. dollars in a factory producing new energy vehicles (NEVs) for North African and European markets.
The world's largest NEV market, China manufactured 340,000 electric cars last year. NEV production has increased since the government began support for high-tech, low-pollution industries to help fulfill its ambitious emission cut targets.
From solar panels to green agriculture, environmentally friendly industries are booming in China.
Energy conservation and environmental protection sectors grew at an annual rate of more than 15 percent during the past decade, generating 4.5 trillion yuan (around 660 billion dollars) in 2015, a significant part of GDP.
Non-fossil fuels have been vigorously promoted and China has become the top new energy user in the world. The International Energy Agency calculated that China contributed 40 percent to global renewable energy growth last year.
Rating agency Moody's said China had the leading share -- 44 percent -- of global green bonds issued in the third quarter of the year, followed by the United States.
China is taking much stronger action on climate change than before, Xie Ji, deputy chief of Chinese delegation to COP22, said on the sidelines of the conference.
By the end of 2020, China will reduce carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by 18 percent compared with that in 2015, according to the 13th Five-Year Plan.
The COP22, the first UN climate change conference since the Paris Agreement took effect, has gathered around 20,000 participants to discuss how to translate plans on greenhouse emission control into concrete results.
