2020 is an unusual year in which the COVID-19 pandemic has raged through the globe, infecting tens of millions of people and killing hundreds of thousands. The pandemic has not only wreaked havoc on public health systems, economic activities, and people’s lives, but also has greatly affected and will continue to reshape the world’s political, economic, and trade patterns.

Just like the coronavirus pandemic, climate change is also a major and urgent global challenge facing humankind. The difference lies in that the coronavirus pandemic emerged as a sudden and pressing crisis affects human health and lives, whereas climate change is a longer-term and deeper challenge threatening humans’ survival and development. We can observe that during the past decades, as green-house gas (GHG) concentrations continue to climb, climate change and more frequent extreme climate events are increasingly threatening humankind’s survival and health, endangering terrestrial and marine ecosystems and harming biodiversity. The Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report elaborated on eight catastrophic risks brought about by climate change and pointed out that climate change is no longer a future challenge, but is already an immediate threat. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has said that the world is at a life-and-death juncture and has called for all countries in the world to join efforts in combating climate change, which is the most significant and urgent problem facing humanity today.