China says it wants to share its clean energy technology with Africa to help the continent tap into its renewable energy resources.

Speaking Monday at a U.N. Environment Program forum in Nairobi, Environment Minister Zhou Shengxian said China is eager to promote green energy to the developing world through means such as technology transfer, capacity building and finance.

UNEP Director Achim Steiner welcomed the remarks, saying Beijing has “broken new ground” in promoting global environmental cooperation.

The agency participated in a new study released this month which found China has become the world's biggest investor in renewable energy. The agency says China invested nearly $50 billion in renewable energy projects in 2010, and was largely responsible for a 32 percent rise in green energy investments worldwide.

Zhou said environmental protection is a key part of China's new Five-Year Plan. He said his country has realized it will suffer unless priority is given to reducing pollution.