Erik Solheim, Co-Chair of Europe Asia Center and Former Under Secretary-General of the UN and Executive Director of the UNEP, is vocal about China’s global role.

Recently, following his participation in the “Understanding China” conference in Guangzhou in southern China, he posted on X that “the rise of China is the most peaceful rise of a major power in history. China has brought everyone out of poverty and helped other nations grow.”

In an interview with Science and Technology Daily in Beijing on December 5, the same day the Global Environmental Think Tank Development Report 2025 was released, Solheim went beyond these broad statements to offer detailed, firsthand observations on what he sees as China’s real contributions to sustainability, the persistent misconceptions in the West, and how the world should respond.

“China is now the total dominant force in all green technologies,” he said. “China is the indispensable nation for the green transition, producing 60 percent or more of renewable energies, electric vehicles and batteries. In terms of the solar energy field, that share reaches 90 percent.”

He cited specific companies as proof of this leadership. “Chinese companies in electric cars and batteries are the world's leading players. So driving the technology and making the production at scale of all these technologies is the number one contribution,” he noted.

In addition, China’s environmental progress is not limited to industry. “China is also the biggest tree planter in the world. It has announced the largest national park system in the world, which is, up to now, the most significant.”

He described a dramatic transformation in everyday environmental conditions. “Ten years ago, I would never have gone running in Beijing. It was polluted. Now the sky is blue, the sun is shining, and the air is fresh.”

For Solheim, these two pillars -- technology and the protection of nature -- are the two most important pillars to sustain China’s ecological development.

He expressed frustration that many in the West remain unaware of this shift. “Many people are not following the news, so they remain in the past. They have seen pictures of Beijing with heavy pollution, and they believe that is still the case. They haven’t really refreshed their minds.”

He also pushed back against the notion that China’s green manufacturing dominance stems from low labor costs. “It is not because salaries are low in China. It is because China is super-efficient and has the most robots, the most efficient production anywhere in the world.”

His recommendation to Western governments is pragmatic: Embrace Chinese investment. “My main suggestion is to invite more Chinese companies to invest in Europe, in the United States, but of course also in Africa and everywhere else, because then these companies will bring the technology and this business practice, and we can learn from it.”

On the global stage, Solheim emphasized China’s deepening ties with the rest of the developing world. He argued that this economic centrality positions China to help reshape global governance. “China is absolutely critical for trade, for technology, for economic prosperity, and for green development. But China can also help establish a new, fairer global system.”

The current global system has been fundamentally dominated by the United States up to now. “To build a fairer order, China needs to work with India, Indonesia, Brazil, and all the other nations of the Global South to establish a fairer global system that is representative of the 21st century.”