On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France, President Xi Jinping recently paid his third state visit to France.
According to People's Daily Online, Xi Jinping held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron. During the talks, topics such as green energy, climate change and biodiversity were mentioned many times.
In the context of the active response of various countries to climate change, France expressed its willingness to communicate and cooperate closely with China on global issues such as climate change, biodiversity conservation, and artificial intelligence.
It is reported that during the talks, China and France signed four joint statements, including biodiversity and oceans, and also signed nearly 20 bilateral cooperation documents, including green development.
It can be seen that in the future, in the era of energy transition and sustainable development, Chinese and French companies will face common opportunities. In fact, over the years, China and France have built a strong foundation for cooperation in a number of areas, especially in areas related to green development.
Chinese and French companies have a basis for cooperation in green development
At the sixth meeting of the Sino-French Entrepreneur Committee, Macron said that China has world-recognized expertise in many fields such as batteries, new energy vehicles, and photovoltaics, and welcomes Chinese companies to invest in France.
Liazid Benhami, Vice President of the France-China Friendship Association in Paris, France, said that he looked forward to China, France and Europe promoting green economic growth, quality of life improvement and biodiversity development through technical cooperation.
In fact, French companies have always cooperated with Chinese companies in promoting green development. For example, Renault Group, a well-known French automaker, signed a joint venture agreement with Geely in 2023 to establish a new company to develop next-generation hybrid powertrains and high-efficiency powertrain solutions, with a target annual production capacity of 5 million internal combustion, hybrid and plug-in hybrid engines and transmissions to meet global demand in the coming years.
The reporter of this newspaper combed and found that the cooperation between Chinese and French companies in the upstream and downstream fields of the new energy automobile industry chain is very frequent.
China's Xiamen Tungsten New Energy Materials Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Xiamen Tungsten New Energy) and France's Orano invested 1.5 billion euros (about 11.4 billion yuan) in 2023 to establish a joint venture in Dunkirk, a port city in northern France, which is involved in the production of cathode materials for lithium batteries.
Prior to Xiamen Tungsten New Energy, in June 2021, China's Envision Power and France's Renault Group had reached a strategic cooperation in the field of power batteries.
Earlier, Wencan Co., Ltd. completed the acquisition and delivery of a 61.96% controlling stake in the French Bailian Group, whose core products include precision aluminum alloy casting products in the fields of automotive braking systems, air intake systems, chassis and body structural parts.
In addition to the automotive field, the cooperation between the two companies in the field of new energy has also achieved two-way progress.
TotalEnergies is a French diversified energy company that has been working with Sinopec for many years, particularly in upstream operations in Angola and Brazil, as well as in various sectors such as oil, LNG, petroleum products trading and engineering. On May 7, Sinopec and Total signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement to leverage the advantages of resources, technology and talents of both parties to jointly explore cooperation opportunities in the entire industry chain of oil and gas exploration and development, natural gas and LNG, refining and chemical industry, engineering trade and biofuels, green hydrogen, CCUS and decarbonization, and promote the green transformation of energy.
EDF, one of the world's largest power companies, is also optimistic about China's new energy development, and its subsidiary, EDF New Energy, focuses on renewable energy and has established a joint venture with Chinese company Asia Clean Capital in China to focus on the development of rooftop photovoltaic projects. In addition, EDF has also cooperated with China's National Energy Group to build a 500,000 kW offshore wind power project in Dongtai, Jiangsu Province, becoming the first Sino-foreign joint venture offshore wind power project in China.
These French companies cooperate with Chinese enterprises in the fields of new energy vehicles, battery manufacturing, and renewable energy to jointly promote the development and application of new energy technologies, which not only promotes the development of China's new energy industry, but also deepens the cooperation between China and France in the field of new energy.
China and France have maintained an in-depth dialogue on environmental protection
Climate change and biodiversity conservation have always been at the highest level in China and FrancestratagemAn indispensable focus of dialogue.
Addressing climate change and reducing carbon emissions is the top priority of global sustainable development, and it is also the sustainable development of the United NationstargetOne. Under the framework of the China-France Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, the two countries have established a partnership to address climate change, and important cooperation results have been achieved.
In terms of environmental protection policies, in November 2007, China and France issued a joint statement on addressing climate change, in November 2015, the leaders of the two countries issued the Joint Statement on Climate Change in Beijing, jointly promoting the process of multi-faceted response to climate change, and in December of the same year, China and France and the international community held the Paris Climate ConferencesocietyChina has always been a staunch supporter and participant in the landmark Paris Agreement on climate change.
In terms of technical cooperation, in 2018, China and France successfully launched the Sino-French Oceanographic Satellite, which has played an important role in improving the efficiency of global action on climate change and biodiversity, as well as global marine environmental monitoring, disaster prevention and mitigation, and high-level response to climate change. In the same year, the heads of state of China and France also jointly decided to launch the "Sino-French Year of the Environment" to promote cooperation in the field of environmental protection and sustainable development.
In terms of third-party market cooperation, China and France signed a list of the fourth round of demonstration projects for third-party market cooperation, including seven projects in the fields of infrastructure construction, environmental protection, and new energy.
In addition, China and France have also cooperated in ecological and environmental protection seminars, cultural exchanges and cooperation, etc., to promote environmental awareness through cultural activities, and to promote further cooperation in the field of ecological and environmental protection.
Our reporter learned that the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France is also the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Sino-French Wuhan Ecological Demonstration City project. The Sino-French Wuhan Eco-Demonstration City is a major strategic cooperation project witnessed by the heads of state of China and France, and it is also the first eco-city jointly built by China and France. In the past ten years since the signing of the agreement, the construction of the Sino-French Wuhan Ecological Demonstration City project has been progressing in an orderly manner, and has become an important platform for economic, trade and scientific and technological cooperation between Wuhan and France.
It is worth mentioning that in the field of environmental protection, French environmental protection companies also occupy an important position in China's environmental protection market.
For example, Veolia Environnement Group has been investing in and operating a number of projects in China since the 90s of the 20th century, covering water management, waste management and energy management, and SUEZ, one of the world's largest water environmental companies, has been in the Chinese market since 1975, and its business in China includes water affairs, solid waste treatment and other environmental protection fields.
During the Chinese president's state visit to France this week, SUEZ reportedly signed three strategic partnership agreements with Chinese partners Envision, Chongqing Sanfeng Environment and Dongguan Water Group to further contribute to the ecological transition. The three collaborations, including the conversion of solid waste into local sustainable energy and the development of the recycling of electric vehicle batteries, are conducive to the energy transition between China and France.
By cooperating with local governments and enterprises, these environmental protection enterprises have made positive contributions to China's environmental protection and resource optimization management. At the same time, they also apply the business experience they have accumulated in China to the development of their global business, forming a mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation.
It can be said that these cooperation reflect the joint efforts and mutual support of China and France in the field of environmental protection, and show the efforts of the two countries to achieve green development and respond to global environmental challenges. In the future, we have reason to believe that China and France will jointly promote mutually beneficial cooperation between China and the EU, and Chinese and European enterprises will also have a great future in green development.