Experts and officials from China and abroad lauded in Beijing on Friday China's implementation of President Xi Jinping's concept that "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets", hailing it as an exemplary case of achieving development while safeguarding the environment.

Premier Li Qiang stressed the need to firmly establish and implement the concept and urged efforts to write a new chapter in the building of ecological civilization in the new era.

Li made the remarks at the opening ceremony of the main event of National Ecology Day, which fell on Friday this year, and at a symposium on putting this concept into practice.

Li said that this important concept has led to historical, transformative and comprehensive changes in China's building of ecological civilization, creating remarkable ecological and green development miracles that have captured global attention.

Xi, then secretary of the Communist Party of China Zhejiang Provincial Committee, first proposed the concept that "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" during an inspection in Anji county, Zhejiang province, on Aug 15, 2005.

Li said that this important concept has also provided Chinese insights and solutions for global sustainable and ecological development, helping contribute China's efforts to these areas.

Erik Solheim, chairman of the Europe-Asia Center, said, "The core idea of the concept is that green is gold. We can combine ecology and economy." Solheim, who is also former under-secretary-general of the United Nations and executive director of the UN Environment Programme, said the biggest change China has experienced in the last decades is that the country has taken the lead in green transformation.

He said that every nation can follow China's model and base its development on renewable natural resources rather than fossil fuels, which harm the environment.

Tanya Steele, CEO of World Wide Fund for Nature United Kingdom and rotating member of WWF Network Executive Team, echoed Solheim's viewpoints by saying that "the principle that 'lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets' has since become foundational to the ecological philosophy for China, and one if delivered, with deep relevance for global biodiversity governance".

She said that China has shared this experience through various South-South cooperation platforms.

Zhou Haibing, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission, said that China has demonstrated leadership by actively fulfilling its international obligations to address climate change.

China has made a great contribution to global carbon reduction by helping reduce the costs of wind power generation by more than 60 percent in the past decade, Zhou said.