2025 World Environment Day

Deputy Director General Zhou, 

A very warm welcome to everybody present here at the UN compound in Beijing.

Excellencies, 

Ladies and gentlemen, 

Let me begin by thanking the UNEP office and our partners across China for bringing us together on World Environment Day. Since its inception in 1973, World Environment Day has grown into the largest global platform for environmental advocacy. Led by the United Nations Environment Program, it shines a spotlight on the most pressing environmental challenges of our time. From climate change to chemical pollution, it inspires action across every corner of the globe. This year, as we turn our attention to a crisis that affects us all, plastic pollution. For decades, plastic waste has crept into every part of our environment, contaminating the water we drink, the food we eat, and the ecosystems we rely on. But while the problem is vast, it is one that is the most solvable environmental challenge we face today. 

We already have the tools and the knowledge, and the innovation to make a difference. Today is a call to action. To learn from nature and spotlight solutions already making an impact, we urge all individuals, businesses, communities, and governments to embrace sustainable practices that drive lasting change. 

Here in China, we are witnessing inspiring progress. One standout example is the Blue Circle initiative in Zhejiang province. By harnessing blockchain technology and the Internet of Things, Blue Circle tackles the entire life cycle of plastic waste, from collection and regeneration to manufacturing and resale. To date, the initiative has removed over 10,700 tons of Marine debris, making it the largest Marine plastic recovery program in China. In recognition of its groundbreaking work, Blue Circle was honored in 2023 as the United Nations Champion of the Earth Award for entrepreneurial vision, one of the highest environmental accolades. 

This is just one success story across China. We see local governments, the private sector, and community leaders stepping up with innovative solutions, but ultimately, the power to beat plastic pollution is within us. The benefits of solving this crisis are clear. Cleaner oceans, landscapes, healthier communities and more resilient ecosystems, and stronger, greener environments. 

Ladies and gentlemen, 

As Deputy Director General Zhou indeed said, President Xi has spoken about the importance of looking at green being a goal and what it takes to achieve green being a goal. China announced the carbon peaking agenda for 2030 and the carbon neutrality agenda by 2060. Each of them is a very clear ambition given that we are confronting what you would term as a triple planetary crisis, a climate change crisis, a biodiversity loss crisis, and an air pollution crisis. 

But to top it all, we have a crisis in plastic pollution, and by the way, as the UN environmental program executive director said, plastic is getting into our bodies day in, day out, right from childhood to adulthood. The longer-term consequences are still being measured, but imagine a biology where half our body is getting polluted with plastic. This is real. This needs ambition. This needs a dramatic change. So, I count on the leadership and innovation that China has been able to provide in terms of galvanizing the world as the multilateral system comes together to fight one of the greatest challenges we face. And I'm not saying this lightly. 

Ladies and gentlemen,

Even a child born today is vulnerable to plastic pollution right from the time it starts to get off mother's milk and onto a bottle-feeding program, onto the food that the child starts to consume. And imagine that day in, day out, our children are being contaminated by these plastics, these very plastics floating around in our bodies right up to our brain. 

So perhaps the ambition needs to be in the words of George Bernard Shaw, who said, "Some men see things as they are and say, 'Why?' and some dream things that never were and say, 'Why not?'". This is that "why not" moment to make that change.

So, on this World Environment Day, I invite you to be a part of beating the plastic pollution. 

Together, let's build a cleaner, sustainable future for our children and our future generations.

Thank you very much.