Liu Zhenmin is China’s new special envoy for climate change. The Ministry of Ecology and Environment in Beijing made the announcement on Friday. Liu succeeds Xie Zhenhua, who is internationally known as the „climate czar.“ At 74, he is now retiring from office after many years. 68-year-old Liu was Xie’s closest advisor at the COP28 climate conference in Dubai and has many years of experience in climate diplomacy. He was involved in the Kyoto Protocol negotiations in 1997 and in talks for the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015.