Good afternoon. I would first like to thank the Conference organizer and United Nations Department of Public Information for inviting me to share some perspectives of Chinese business regarding the topic of global citizens as stewards of the planet.

I come from Guangzhou City in South China, where people often greet each other with the popular saying: Gong Xi Fa Cai – May you be fortune and prosperous! Nowadays, a new fad is just emerging, i.e. “Green Fortune” or “Green is Gold.” Meanwhile, I am a member of an environmental NGO named Society of Entrepreneur and Ecology (SEE). It is comprised of more than 500 Chinese entrepreneurs and has become the largest, the most influential entrepreneur-led environmental organization in China.

My main job is to serve as the chairperson of an ecological landscaping and restoration company. We offer ecological restoration plans and technical services for purifying the contaminated air, water and soil in Chinese cities. Sometimes, I would describe our work as "embroidering a green outfit for our cities".

China pledges to invest 2 trillion US dollars in the ecological restoration and pollution control during the next five years. This signifies that China no longer continue pursuing GDP in a single-headed manner, but also attach importance to environmental protection as well. This very much aligns with the SDGs. More and more Chinese companies start to enter the business of environmental protection. For example, my own company used to be in the traditional gardening and landscaping business.

To change cities into forests, we have conducted extensive R&D work in urban vertical greening. Our proprietary technology of green roofs and vertical greening can raise the green coverage of buildings by 200 per cent, which effectively mitigate the urban heat island effect and help improve urban air quality. This innovation led me to win the Annual Green Design International Contribution Award by the World Green Design Organization at the Milan EXPO in 2015.

At present, environmental pollution in China is very serious. In 2013, smog had loomed in Beijing in 175 days, almost half of that year. We have launched large-scale environmental protection projects. Because of the lack of the integrated approach for sustainable development, environmental pollution control was just treated as short-term, one-off profit-making business opportunities, which led to inefficient resource use and inadequate outcomes.

Take my own city – Guangzhou – as an example. It had invested nearly three billion US dollars in the run up to the 2010 Asian Games to clean its water system. Although the project was completed and green spaces were increased, yet the water quality remains unsatisfactory due to lack of connectedness of water systems.

As most Chinese are not unfamiliar with the SDGs yet, but the global SDGs cannot be realized without China’s active participation. For this reason, we in environmental business shoulder great responsibility of publicizing the concepts and raising the public awareness. We will organize a charity event called “Blue Sky Action” next month in Guangzhou. I hope to disseminate the key messages contained in the Gyeongju Declaration through our events and activities. I dedicate myself to raise environmental awareness and engage the public in the protection of global environment in Guangzhou and China.