On the 1st of November, the Ministers of Environment of China and Germany, Huang Runqiu and Steffi Lemke, attended the 7th Sino-German Environmental Forum in Taicang, Jiangsu. The Sino-German Environmental Forum is a high-level political dialogue between the two countries, which is combined with a conference on relevant environmental policy topics, early in the morning of the 1st of November. The two Ministers had a bilateral talk and opened the Sino-German Environmental Forum. Later during the Sino-German Environmental Forum, members of the MEE of China and the BMUV of Germany together with experts presented and discussed on the topics of biodiversity protection, plastic pollution and management of chemicals, and protection of marine ecosystems. These discussions brought the participants of the two countries closer together to open the way for further exchange.

Climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental pollution are considered the three major planetary crises of today. The topics that have been discussed during this Sino-German Environmental Forum reflect those crises and the discussions during the forum aim to strengthen the cooperation between China and Germany to address those crises. The presentations and exchange on biodiversity loss and protection focused on the implementation of the results from the last COP of the UN Biodiversity Convention and on the contribution of healthy ecosystems to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

Before the Sino-German Environmental Forum, Minister Lemke visited German businesses in Taicang and Shanghai, which produce technology in the fields of circular economy to reduce plastic waste, wastewater treatment, handling of chemicals, electric vehicles, etc. In addition, the Minister visited a cooperation between Suzhou City and GIZ on plastic waste collection and sorting. The Minister’s visit ended with a lecture at Tongji University.