the World Health Organisation (WHO) ranking for deadly outdoor air pollution; stresses that increased trade in bioeconomy products made from renewable materials can help reduce the fossil dependency of China’s and the Union’s economies; calls for the EU and China to deepen their relations in other areas of mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions such as electric mobility, renewable energies and energy efficiency, to continue and broaden the EU-China Roadmap on energy cooperation beyond 2020, and to intensify joint efforts on developing instruments for green finance, especially climate finance; calls for China and the EU to explore and engage in the advance planning and development of cross-border electricity transmission lines, using high-voltage direct current technology to make renewable energy sources more accessible; 78. Encourages the EU and China to continue their partnership on sustainable urbanisation, including in areas such as clean transport, air quality improvement, the circular economy and ecodesign; stresses the need for further environmental protection measures, bearing in mind that more than 90 % of cities do not comply with the national standard of PM 2.5 air pollution concentration and that in China more than one million people die each year from diseases linked to air pollution; 79. Underlines the mutual interest of the EU and China in promoting low-carbon development and addressing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in transparent, public and well-regulated energy markets; believes in the value of strategic EU-China partnerships as necessary for the implementation of the Paris Agreement and for the effective combating of climate change; calls on the EU and China to use their political weight to advance the implementation of the Paris Agreement as well as of the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and urges a cooperative approach at the Conference of Parties of the UNFCCC as well as at the High-level Political Forum of the UN; calls on both sides to adopt a joint statement on climate action to demonstrate their shared commitment to a strong implementation of the Paris Agreement and active participation in the 2018 Talanoa Dialogue as well as at COP24; encourages both sides to play a responsible role in international negotiations by contributing to the objective to limit global warming through their respective internal climate policies, as well as by making financial contributions to reach the goal of providing USD 100 billion annually by 2020 for mitigation and adaptation; 80. Welcomes the launch of the nationwide emissions trading system in China in December 2017; takes note of the successful cooperation during the preparation phase between China and the EU enabling the launch; recognises the willingness of the Chinese leadership to reduce GHG emissions, and looks forward to the results of the ongoing work on monitoring, reporting and verification, which is key to the good functioning of the system; stresses the importance of economy-wide action on climate change, and welcomes the intention to expand its coverage to include industrial sectors and improve the trading arrangements of the system; calls on the EU and China to continue their partnership within the cooperation project for the development of China’s carbon market, for it to become an effective instrument that creates meaningful incentives for emission reduction and further aligning it to the EU emissions trading system; calls on both sides to further promote carbon pricing mechanisms in other countries and regions, by using their own experiences and expertise and by exchanging best practice as well as engaging in efforts to build up cooperation between existing carbon markets in order to work towards a global level playing field;