NAIROBI, March 13 (Xinhua) -- An environmental expert on Wednesday hailed China for transforming the solar energy sector in line with the global sustainable development goals.

Paul Ekins, Director of Institute for Sustainable Resources at University College London (UCL), said Beijing has done a wonderful job by availing renewable energy through solar globally.

"China has taken a lead in renewable energy and is now the world's largest producer, exporter and installer of solar panels, wind turbines and electric vehicles," Ekins said during the launch of the sixth Global Environmental Outlook report at the ongoing fourth session of United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) in Nairobi.

The expert said the transformation is now more visible in Africa than in any other continent as majority of populations are adopting solar power as it is cheaper than fossil fuel driven power.

"What China has done in the past few years is a result of public private partnership where the private sector is left independent to run innovation," said Ekins, the co-chair of the panel that conducted the five-year assessment report.

Ekins added that from the report findings that paint a grim picture of bad management of the planet, there is need to move from fossil fuel to renewable energy-powered vehicles and other equipment.

He urged populations to borrow good behaviors by adopting lifestyles that could help reduce environmental degradation.

"We need to start pooling transport, change our homes to energy positive homes and adopt the use of renewable energy at our homes," he said.

Ekins also urged governments to openly respond to the report, which raised pertinent real issues that require direct intervention by the governments.

The report warns that damage to the planet is so dire that people's health will be increasingly threatened unless urgent action is taken.

The report, which was produced by 250 scientists and experts from more than 70 countries, calls for drastic scaling up of environmental protection in regions including Asia, the Middle East and Africa.