UNEP’s Green Economy Report was launched in Beijing on 16 November 2011. The event attracted more than 200 participants both domestically and internationally, including from line ministries, embassies, international organizations and UN agencies, academia, NGOs and more than 40 national and international media.

Mr Sheng Fulai, Head of UNEP’s Research and Partnership Unit moderated the event. Mr Achim Steiner, UNEP Executive Director delivered the key messages of the report. Mr He Binguang, a Director General from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) presented a speech “The Practice and Outlook of China Green Economy’ on behalf of the Chinese government.

Mr Wang Guangtao, Chairman of the Environment Protection and Resources Conservation Committee, National People’s Congress (NPC) and Mr Wang Yuqing, Vice Chairman of the Committee of Population, Resource and Environment of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) commented on the launch of the UNEP report and introduced the ways in which China’s legislative and participatory decision-making processes can contribute to a green economy transformation.

Senior representatives from donor agencies attended the event including Ms Ann Herbert, Director of the ILO Office for China & Mongolia, and Mr Meyer Walter, Counselor of Switzerland Embassy. Senior officials from ministries of environment, tourism, ocean, forest, industry and information, human resources and social security, finance, science and technology, and foreign affairs attended the event. Mr Zhang Lubiao, Director General, International Cooperation Bureau, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences together with senior research fellows from Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences as well as many universities attended the launching. The participants also include NGOs and business sectors. They expressed strong interests in the UNEP report and raised a number of questions ranging from how to measure green economy progress to the role of the business sector and how to evaluate the effectiveness of investments in green sectors.

Following the launching, Reuters, BBC and Sohu.com conducted exclusive interviews with the ED. Chinese media including China Daily, Beijing TV, and China News conducted a group interview with the ED.  

Exclusive interviews with ED on green economy and Durban Conference were conducted by CCTV-International, CCTV-Finance, and Xinhua CNC. The interview hosted by Ms Tian Wei, was aired on CCTV-News on 20th Nov on the weekly in-depth debate/interview program. She is also UN Special Advisor and expressed great interests for future cooperation with UNEP on major events.

As invited by German Ambassador in China, ED held a brief session for German media on 17th Nov.