Chen spoke on the second day of the International University Sports Federation (FISU) World Conference that is being held under the theme "Save Winter" at the Lake Placid Center for the Arts.

The 23-year-old, who claimed men’s singles gold at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, hailed technical giant Panasonic’s Green Impact initiative that aims to slash carbon emissions by more than 300 million tons by 2050.

"This is a huge issue and something that encompasses all of us," Chen told insidethegames.

"I am really proud to be part of Panasonic and amazed by all the initiatives that they have been putting in to try to spur on this global drive to putting an end to the climate crisis.

"We have been hearing about this in the media for a very long time but the more we prolong the worst things will become.

"We are already seeing some crazy weather events that we haven’t before - California with wildfires and Salt Lake City with the drought and drying of the Great Salt Lake."

Chen gave a presentation, called "Panasonic - Creating a Greener More Equitable Future", at the FISU World Conference.

"I am glad that people are talking about these things that are trying to create solutions for them," said Chen.

"These solutions need to come quickly and come with a little more urgency."

Ashley Manz, head of social media and marketing for Panasonic North America, said it was important to have leading athletes behind the company’s green initiatives.

"They all believe in it and they are very passionate," said Manz.

"We are trying to address those [issues] head on, especially from a business perspective and that’s why we launched the Green Impact campaign.

"Our goal as a business is to reduce our CO2 emissions and we are aiming to achieve net zero in all of our operations by 2030 which is an aggressive goal but that’s what we are aiming for."

Panasonic is part of the International Olympic Committee’s The Olympic Partner Programme and sponsors the Lake Placid 2023 Winter World University Games.