Xie Zhenhua

Xie Zhenhua (; born November 1949 ) is a Chinese politician who served as vice-chairman of China's top economic development body, the National Development and Reform Commission as well as serving as China's special climate envoy.

Early life and education Xie Zhenhua was born in Tianjin. During the Cultural Revolution he was put to work in the countryside. Specifically, he was among the millions of "sent-down youth" who were dispatched to the countryside to retrain their minds through hard labor, and for this Xie was sent to Heihe in the northern province of Heilongjiang. Xie joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1969.

In 2007 Xie was appointed vice minister at the National Development and Reform Commission. He was the lead negotiator for China at most United Nations Climate Change Conferences since 2009. In 2019 he was replaced by his aide Zhao Yingmin, before returning to that role.

Xie's role has been positively received among many foreign politicians and climate change activists, as he has been a driver behind China signing binding commitments to reduce emissions. Xie is seen as "China's voice on climate change".

Xie remains at the forefront of debate over China's economic responsibilities for climate change mitigation, and advocates carbon emission trading (also known as a carbon market), and climate aid to developing countries. He led the Chinese delegation at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (i.e. COP26) in November of that year.

Xie worked with former California governor Jerry Brown to establish a new center for California-China climate cooperation at University of California, Berkeley. During his time as climate envoy in the 2020s, he befriended John Kerry, his American counterpart, before his retirement.