Beate Trankmann, UNDP Resident Representative for China, speaks in an exclusive interview with Xinhua in Beijing, capital of China, December 23(XINHUA) 

China's commitment to peaking carbon emissions and achieving carbon neutrality has given the global fight against climate change a boost, an official with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has said. 

China is at the global forefront of green development, Beate Trankmann, UNDP Resident Representative for China, told Xinhua in an exclusive interview.

Noting that China is one of the world's biggest investors in renewable energy and has the biggest green bond market in the world, Trankmann said that the country should build on these efforts and continue to pursue green development.

The UNDP launched the first human development report in 1990 to measure the well-being of people in different countries based on three dimensions: health, education and income.

This year's report released last week highlighted the interactions between human development and the environment, stressing that progress is not only defined by the well-being of people but also by the well-being of the planet.

"The concept of human development was never just about the size of the pie, it was always also about the slices of the pie and how they are distributed and, as the report puts it, now we must also consider the oven," Trankmann said.

China has made significant progress in human development since the report was first released, becoming the first country to have moved from the low human development category to high human development category.

The country's push to eradicate extreme poverty has contributed a lot to this progress, Trankmann said, adding that China has made sustained political commitments to poverty relief and put various resources into this cause.

The country made good progress in all three major dimensions of human development, with people's longevity increasing, education improving and income rising over the years, she noted.

While all countries are expected to see a decline in human development this year due to the economic and social impact of COVID-19, Trankmann said that the drop for China would be less than other countries as it managed to emerge from the virus quickly and is expected to achieve positive growth during the year.