Deepen the reform of the ecological civilization system and accelerate the construction of a beautiful China
On July 18, the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China adopted the "Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Further Comprehensively Deepening Reforms and Promoting Chinese-Style Modernization"(hereinafter referred to as the "Decision"). The "Decision" proposes more than 300 important reform measures, of which "Deepening the Reform of the Ecological Civilization System" is a special chapter, and there are also some contents related to ecological and environmental protection, which are also scattered in other chapters.
The "Decision" makes important arrangements for how to deepen the reform of the ecological civilization system in the next step and points out the direction of reform.
Deepen the reform of the ecological civilization system and make the system a rigid constraint
The "Decision" deeply explains and answers major theoretical and practical questions such as why, where, and how to change the reform of the ecological civilization system.
Regarding how to improve the ecological civilization institutional system, the "Decision" makes a series of arrangements such as implementing an ecological and environmental management system that is sub-regional, differentiated, and precise control.
Ecological environment zoning management and control is an environmental management system that implements differentiated and precise management by regions with the goal of ensuring ecological functions and improving environmental quality. Recently, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment issued the "Interim Provisions on the Management of Ecological Environment Zoning Management and Control", proposing a total of 36 specific requirements, clarifying the formulation and release, implementation and application, adjustment and update, digital construction, tracking and evaluation, and supervision and management of ecological environment zoning control plans. Work requirements. In addition, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment actively promotes the inclusion of ecological environment zoning control into the Ecological Environment Code being compiled to strengthen legal support for this system.
In terms of improving the ecological and environmental governance system, the "Decision" also proposes to establish a coordinated management and environmental risk management and control system for new pollutants, and promote coordinated emission reduction of multiple pollutants.
New pollutants involve many industries and have long industrial chains, requiring multi-department and cross-field collaborative management to implement full life cycle environmental risk management and control. At the same time, the management of new pollutants must be integrated into the prevention and control of water, atmosphere and soil pollution. In March last year, the "List of Key Controlled New Pollutants (2023 Edition)" came into effect, clarifying 14 types of key controlled new pollutants and their environmental risk management and control measures such as prohibitions, restrictions, and emission restrictions.
Regarding important river basins, the "Decision" proposes to promote the construction of an ecological and environmental management system that integrates upstream and downstream in important river basins. This requires unified planning, unified standards, and unified policies for the upper and lower reaches of important river basins, and overall planning and reasonable arrangement of relevant projects according to the functional positioning of the upper, lower and lower reaches.
In addition, the "Decision" proposes to implement the ecological protection red line management system, improve the value realization mechanism of ecological products, promote comprehensive ecological compensation, etc.
my country has creatively proposed an ecological protection red line system to achieve a red line to control important ecological spaces. As of now, the land ecological protection red line area accounts for more than 30% of the land area.
In recent years, all parts of the country have gradually improved the value realization mechanism of ecological products, explored the accounting of ecosystem GDP, and built an ecological economic system with industrial ecology and ecological industrialization as the main body. such as NingxiaHuiThe autonomous region actively explores multi-dimensional restoration models such as "mine restoration +","desertification prevention and control +","comprehensive management of small watersheds +" and "saline-alkali land management +" to enhance the value of ecological products.
The ecological compensation mechanism has also taken a big step from jointly protecting green water to seeking common development. The "Ecological Protection Compensation Regulations" officially came into effect on June 1 this year. At present, my country has built the world's largest ecological protection compensation mechanism with the widest coverage, the largest beneficiary population, and the largest investment.
The "Decision" puts forward a series of requirements on how to improve the green and low-carbon development mechanism. For example, we will develop green and low-carbon industries, improve the work system for adapting to climate change, build a carbon emission statistical accounting system, a product carbon labeling and certification system, and a product carbon footprint management system, improve the carbon market trading system and the voluntary greenhouse gas emission reduction trading system, and actively and steadily promote Carbon peak and carbon neutrality.
In recent years, my country has incorporated carbon peaking and carbon neutrality into the overall layout of ecological civilization construction, and has successively issued "1+N" policies under the "double carbon" goal, accelerated the development of new energy sources such as wind power and photovoltaics, and strived to promote green and low-carbon production and life style has become the conscious pursuit of the whole society.
In order to help achieve the "double carbon" goal, not long ago, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and other 15 departments jointly issued the "Implementation Plan on Establishing a Carbon Footprint Management System." Recently, the "National Carbon Market Development Report (2024)" organized and compiled by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment was officially released, looking forward to the future development prospects of the national carbon market.
Planting a thick green background to promote high-quality economic development
High-quality development is the primary task of comprehensively building a modern socialist country. High-level protection is the proper meaning and important support for high-quality development. High-quality development with ecological priority, green and low-carbon can only be achieved by relying on high-level protection.
Developing new quality productivity is an inherent requirement and important focus for promoting high-quality development. The "Decision" clearly states to "improve the system and mechanism for developing new productive forces according to local conditions."
During the two sessions this year,"New Quality Productivity" was included in the government work report for the first time and was listed as the top ten work tasks in 2024.
"Developing new productive forces is not to ignore or abandon traditional industries." On March 5 this year,XiJinpingThe General Secretary emphasized when participating in the deliberation of the Jiangsu delegation at the Second Session of the 14th National People's Congress.
How to transform and upgrade traditional industries? The "Decision" gives answers: promote revolutionary technological breakthroughs, innovative allocation of production factors, and deep industrial transformation and upgrading; lead the optimization and upgrading of traditional industries with the improvement of national standards, etc.
For traditional industries, we cannot simply treat them as "low-end industries" and retire or shut down. Instead, we must promote the upgrading of processes, technologies, and equipment to achieve green and low-carbon transformation.
The water-jet weaving industry in Wujiang District, Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province began in the early 1990s. Due to the high water consumption of water-jet looms, it has become a blocking point for the green, circular and low-carbon development of the textile industry in recent years. Through intelligent transformation, environmental protection improvement, and digital transformation, Wujiang District has promoted green transformation and upgrading of the local silk textile industry. After two rounds of rectification, a total of about 180,000 low-end and inefficient water-jet looms have been eliminated, and daily sewage production has been reduced by about 600,000 tons., traditional industries have achieved "green rebirth".
To adhere to high-quality development, we must focus on enhancing the integrity of regional development, improving the quality of regional ecological environment, and laying a solid green foundation for high-quality development.
The "Decision" proposes to promote the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and other regions to better play their role as a source of high-quality development.
In the past ten years, the Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei regions have improved more than ten long-term mechanisms, including joint prevention and control of the atmosphere, joint protection and joint management of water, information sharing, joint law enforcement, joint emergency drills, and environmental assessment consultations. From 2013 to 2023, the concentrations of major air pollutants in the three provinces and cities of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei dropped significantly.
This year is the fifth year that the Yangtze River Delta Ecological Green Integrated Development Demonstration Zone has been officially unveiled. The ecological and environmental quality of the demonstration zone has generally remained stable, and ecological green has become a clear background for the high-quality development of the demonstration zone. In particular, the "Several Policies and Measures on Supporting the Construction of the Yangtze River Delta Ecological Green Integrated Development Demonstration Zone with High-level Protection of the Ecological Environment" reviewed and approved by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment on July 1 will solve the problem of the demonstration zone's role in promoting integrated ecological and environmental governance. Deep-seated problems.
The Party Central Committee attaches great importance to the ecological and environmental protection of the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the Yellow River Basin. The "Decision" proposes to optimize the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, ecological protection and high-quality development mechanisms in the Yellow River Basin.
The third round of the second batch of central ecological and environmental protection inspectors launched in May this year focused on the Yangtze River Economic Belt region and exposed a total of 28 typical cases. The sword hangs high, and the real move encounters the tough, and typical ecological and environmental damage problems will be solved one by one.
To promote high-quality development, the "Decision" also emphasizes institutional constraints such as environmental protection and safety. Systems such as pollutant discharge permits and ecological environment access lists will protect high-quality development.
Accelerate the development of green industries and promote low-carbon technological innovation
At present, my country's green and low-carbon industries are developing rapidly, and green and low-carbon technological innovation is the foundation and key to achieving the "double carbon" goal. Statistics show that China is an important contributor to global green and low-carbon technological innovation.
The "Decision" proposes to continue to implement the "Belt and Road" scientific and technological innovation action plan and strengthen the construction of multilateral cooperation platforms in green development, digital economy, artificial intelligence, energy, taxation, finance, disaster reduction and other fields.
In the ten years since the Belt and Road Initiative was proposed, green development has achieved fruitful results, injecting strong impetus into the green and low-carbon transformation of the country. China actively shares its experience in ecological civilization construction, promotes the docking with the country's green environmental protection industries and technologies, supports the country's green and low-carbon transformation, exerts a demonstration effect, and promotes the implementation of more "small but beautiful" green and low-carbon development cooperation projects.
Today, green transformation has become a global trend. The "Decision" requires actively responding to the trend of digitalization and greening of trade. This also means that the green trend will have an impact on the energy structure, industrial structure and consumption patterns, as well as the pattern and rules of international trade.
Reform in the financial sector is an important part of my country's comprehensive deepening of reform. The "Decision" proposes to actively develop science and technology finance, green finance, inclusive finance, pension finance, and digital finance.
The most prominent feature of green finance is that it places more emphasis on the interests of the living environment of human society, emphasizes the coordinated development of financial activities, environmental protection and ecological balance, and ultimately achieves sustainable economic and social development.
The tasks of reforming the ecological civilization system have been clarified. The next step is to promote the real implementation of various measures and form more landmark reform results to provide institutional guarantees for promoting ecological civilization and building a beautiful China.
