Sun Jinlong, Secretary of the Party Group of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, and Huang Runqiu, Minister, published a signed article titled "Cultivating and Developing Green Productivity, Comprehensively Promoting the Construction of Beautiful Chi

This important statement profoundly elucidates the inherent relationship between new quality productivity and green productivity, points out the important direction and practical path for developing green productivity, and provides an action plan and scientific guide for promoting high-quality development and building a beautiful China. p> Green productivity reflects the basic requirements of new quality productivity. New productive forces are the advanced productive forces that innovation plays a leading role in breaking away from traditional economic growth methods and development paths. Developing green productivity means focusing on promoting innovation in development methods, planning development from the perspective of harmonious coexistence between humans and nature, handling the relationship between high-quality development and high-level protection, resolutely abandoning the practice of sacrificing the ecological environment for temporary and local economic growth, changing the development model of relying too much on increasing material resource consumption, relying too much on extensive expansion of scale, and relying too much on high energy consuming and high emission industries, promoting green and low-carbon economic and social development, fundamentally alleviating the contradiction between economic development and resource environment, and promoting economic development from "existence" to "good" and "high quality", pursuing green development and prosperity

Green productivity conforms to the important characteristics of new quality productivity. New productive forces are advanced productive forces with high-tech, high-efficiency, and high-quality characteristics that conform to the new development concept. Green productivity is formed by the innovation of green and low-carbon technology and models, including new manufacturing represented by emerging industries such as new energy and new materials for pollution reduction and carbon reduction, new business models represented by the integration of digitalization, intelligence, greening and traditional industries, new services represented by high value-added green environmental protection industries and green consumption, and the resulting aggregates. Developing green productivity means fully, accurately, and comprehensively implementing the new development concept, focusing on technological innovation and industrial upgrading, striving to build a green and low-carbon supply chain, building a green and low-carbon circular economy system, accelerating the formation of an industrial structure with high technological content, low resource consumption, and low environmental pollution, and promoting the achievement of higher quality, more efficient, fairer, more sustainable, and safer development

In recent years, various regions have accelerated the development and utilization of clean energy based on resource endowments, and promoted the green and low-carbon transformation of development methods. The picture is taken on the evening of February 23, 2023, in Yuntai Desolation Village, Lianghekou Town, Zigui County, Yichang City, Hubei Province (drone photo). Zheng Jiayu from Xinhua News Agency/Photo

Green productivity contains the source of power for new productivity. New productivity is born from revolutionary technological breakthroughs, innovative allocation of production factors, and deep industrial transformation and upgrading. From the perspective of green and low-carbon technology, green and low-carbon technology is one of the important driving forces for the formation of new productivity. Power cells, photovoltaic cells, Technological breakthroughs in fields such as wind turbines have become a significant symbol of a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation; Innovative allocation of resources and environment is one of the key links in the formation of new productive forces. The innovative development of market-oriented allocation of resources and environment factors such as carbon emission trading is incentivizing market entities to innovate technology with higher efficiency and lower costs; The green and low-carbon transformation and upgrading of industries is one of the important carriers for the formation of new productive forces. In the green and low-carbon transformation of traditional industries and the development and growth of green and low-carbon industries, the development of new productive forces has burst into vitality

Developing green productive forces is a keeping up with the times of Marxist ecological views. The relationship between humans and nature is the most fundamental relationship in human society. Marx believed that "humans rely on nature for their livelihood". Nature not only provides humans with sources of living materials, such as fertile land, rivers, lakes, and seas with abundant fish production, but also provides humans with sources of production materials. Natural objects constitute the natural conditions for human survival, and humans produce, live, and develop in their interaction with nature. Humans treat nature well, and nature will also give them gifts. However, if humans conquer natural forces through scientific and creative genius, then natural forces also retaliate against humans. Protecting the ecological environment is protecting productivity, and improving the ecological environment is developing productivity. The important discourse of General Secretary deeply elucidates the dialectical unity and complementary relationship between economic development and ecological environment protection. Ecology itself is economy, protecting ecology will give you back. Developing green productivity points out a new path to achieving coordinated and unified development and protection, as well as harmonious coexistence between humans and nature. It will guide us to break through old development thinking, concepts, and models, adhere to the principle of protecting and developing while developing, and embark on a civilized development path of production development, prosperous living, and good ecology

Developing green productivity is essential for promoting high-quality development. High quality development is a common form of green development. During the period of rapid industrialization and urbanization, there is a concentrated, widespread, and large-scale demand for investment and industrial products, which is characterized by high investment, high consumption, high emissions, and extensive development. While promoting rapid economic growth, it also brings prominent problems such as unreasonable industrial and energy structures, excessive resource consumption, environmental pollution and ecological damage, and high greenhouse gas emissions. At present, China's economic and social development has entered a high-quality development stage of accelerating greening and low-carbon. Developing green productivity, accelerating the formation of green production and lifestyle, expanding the supply of high-quality ecological products, can effectively reduce the resource and environmental costs of development, and promote the effective improvement of quality and reasonable growth of quantity in green transformation

The development of green productivity is an important foundation for achieving the improvement of ecological environment quality from quantitative to qualitative. The fundamental issue of ecological environment is the issue of development and lifestyle, and green and low-carbon development is the fundamental solution to ecological environment problems. At present, the structural, root cause, and trend pressures on ecological environment protection in China have not been fundamentally alleviated, and the total amount of pollutants and carbon emissions remains high. The foundation for stable and improving ecological environment quality is not yet solid, and the turning point from quantitative to qualitative change has not yet arrived. Developing green productivity, accelerating the adjustment of industry, energy, and transportation structure, accelerating the formation of a spatial pattern, industrial structure, production mode, and lifestyle that saves resources and protects the environment, significantly improving the degree of economic greening, helping to promote the amplification and reduction of pollutants and carbon emissions, fundamentally improving the quality of the ecological environment, and meeting the growing needs of the people for a beautiful ecological environment

Various regions are actively developing new quality productivity, injecting new momentum and shaping new advantages for high-quality development. The picture shows on November 30, 2023, in the green agriculture chain exhibition area of the first Chain Expo, visitors learned about seed research and development in front of the exhibition booth. On that day, the focus was on the core links, key technologies, and products of the agricultural industry chain, with a focus on seed research and development, smart agricultural applications, modern intelligent agricultural machinery equipment, and agricultural processing products with regional characteristics, as well as supporting agricultural related financial, logistics and other services, presenting a new scene of co creating the future of green agriculture for the audience. Xinhua News Agency reporter Li He/Photo

Developing green productivity is to promote global development.

China's contribution to sustainable development. At present, the global industrial system and supply chain system are accelerating their reconstruction, presenting a trend of diversification, regionalization, greening, and digitalization. The competition for technological high ground is becoming increasingly fierce, while the global environmental governance situation is becoming more complex, and the politicization trend of global ecological environment issues is increasing. Developing green productivity, accelerating innovation in green and low-carbon technologies, and promoting the application of advanced green technologies, opening up new fields and tracks for development, shaping new driving forces and advantages for development, promoting industries to continuously move towards the high-end of the global value chain, helping to actively strive for international green and low-carbon competition initiative, enhancing China's voice and influence in the global environmental governance system, and also implementing global development initiatives, contributing to the realization of stronger, green, and healthy global development through Chinese wisdom and solutions

III. Great progress has been made in the development of green productive forces since the new era

The concept of green development has deeply rooted in people's hearts. p> The green and low-carbon transformation has achieved significant results. Since the new era, China has supported an annual economic growth rate of over 6% with an average annual energy consumption growth rate of 3%. The energy consumption per unit of GDP has decreased by 26.8%, making it one of the countries with the fastest reduction in energy intensity in the world. The proportion of coal in energy consumption has decreased to 55.3%, while the proportion of non fossil energy consumption has increased to 17.7%. The installed capacity of renewable energy accounts for about 52.9% of the total installed capacity of power generation in China, surpassing that of thermal power. The installed capacity of hydropower, wind power, solar power, and biomass power all steadily ranks first in the world, and the cumulative carbon emission intensity has decreased by more than 35%, reversing the rapid growth of carbon dioxide emissions. Establish an ecological environment zoning control system, delineate more than 40000 ecological environment control units, and provide a clear bottom line and boundary for development. The world's largest clean coal power supply and clean steel production system has been established, and the number of coal-fired boilers and industrial furnaces in China has been reduced from nearly 500000 to less than 100000. About 1.03 billion kilowatt coal-fired power units and 420 million tons of crude steel production capacity have completed ultra-low emission transformation

The development of green backgrounds is becoming increasingly beautiful. Since the new era, China's ecological environment quality has significantly improved, creating successful practices for the largest developing country to effectively protect the ecological environment while achieving rapid economic and social development. The average concentration of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in prefecture level and above cities nationwide has decreased from 46 micrograms/cubic meter in 2015 to 30 micrograms/cubic meter in 2023, making it the country with the fastest improvement rate in global air quality. The proportion of high-quality surface water sections in China has reached 89.4%. The water quality of the Yangtze River and the Yellow River has been maintained at Class II for four consecutive years, and the black and odorous water bodies in cities at or above the prefecture level have been basically eliminated. The soil environmental risks have been effectively controlled, and the goal of zero import of solid waste has been achieved as scheduled. Ecological protection and restoration continue to strengthen, with the red line area of land ecological protection accounting for more than 30% of the land area, and the forest coverage rate reaching 24.02%, becoming the country with the fastest growth of forest resources and the largest artificial afforestation area in the world

The green and low-carbon market mechanism continues to improve. The world's largest carbon market has been established, and the second compliance cycle of the national carbon emission trading market has successfully concluded. A total of 2257 key emission units in the power generation industry have been included, with an annual coverage of over 5 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions and a compliance completion rate of over 99%. Initiate the national voluntary greenhouse gas emission reduction trading market, and establish a carbon trading market system and carbon pricing mechanism consisting of a mandatory carbon market and a voluntary carbon market. Give full play to the incentive effect of environmental protection tax, and provide tax reduction benefits to enterprises with good environmental performance and low pollution emissions, totaling over 10 billion yuan. We have launched pilot projects for the Ecological Environment Oriented Development (EOD) model, promoting a total of 229 EOD projects to financial institutions, and have received a credit of 2012 billion yuan. Vigorously developing green finance, as of the end of 2023, the balance of domestic and foreign currency green loans of Chinese financial institutions exceeded 30 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 36.5%

Global green and low-carbon competitive advantages are highlighted. The vigorous development of green and low-carbon related industries is becoming a new engine for China's economic development and a new driving force for foreign trade development. In 2023, China's production and sales of new energy vehicles accounted for over 60% of the world's total, ranking first in the world for nine consecutive years; The export of electric vehicles, lithium batteries, and photovoltaic products has increased by nearly 30%. The new installed capacity of renewable energy generation has exceeded half of the world, and the conversion efficiency of advanced photovoltaic cells in mass production has reached 25.5%. The production of key components such as wind turbines accounts for more than 70% of the global market, continuously enriching the global supply of green products. At the same time, China is deeply involved in global environmental and climate governance, and as the President of the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15), it has promoted the historic and ambitious "Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework" that balances practicality; Make a solemn commitment to carbon peak and carbon neutrality and put it into practice, promote the conclusion of the Paris Agreement, provide help to other developing countries within their capacity through the joint construction of the green "the Belt and Road", South South cooperation on climate change and other channels, and make great contributions to the global response to climate change and green low-carbon transformation with China's action

Fourth, promote the accelerated development of green productivity through high-level protection

Currently, China has embarked on a new journey of comprehensively building a socialist modernized country.

We must adhere to the hard principle of high-quality development in the new era, firmly establish and practice the concept that green mountains and clear waters are invaluable assets, strengthen the empowerment of green and low-carbon technological innovation, fully leverage the leading, optimizing, and driving role of the ecological environment, accelerate the development of green productivity, promote high-quality development and high-level protection simultaneously, accelerate the modernization of harmonious coexistence between humans and nature, and comprehensively promote the construction of a beautiful China

Promote green and low-carbon technological innovation. Deepen the reform of the ecological and environmental technology system, build a market-oriented green technology innovation system, and promote the self-reliance and self-improvement of green and low-carbon technology. Make pollution reduction and carbon reduction, coordinated emission reduction of multiple pollutants, addressing climate change, biodiversity protection, new pollutant treatment, nuclear safety, and other key areas of national basic research and technological innovation, and strengthen key core technology research and development. Implement major actions for technological innovation in the ecological environment, and build innovation platforms such as major scientific facilities and key laboratories, engineering technology centers, and scientific observation and research stations in the field of ecological environment. Improve the ability to transform and apply green technology innovation achievements, with enterprises as the main body, promote the deep integration of government, industry, academia, and research, and support green and low-carbon technology leading enterprises to participate in major scientific and technological projects, major scientific and technological infrastructure construction, and innovation decision-making consulting on a regular and proactive basis. Strengthen digital empowerment, build a green and intelligent digital ecological civilization, implement ecological environment informatization projects, and accelerate the establishment of a modern ecological environment monitoring system. Relying on major scientific and technological projects and engineering training to select innovative talents and teams, improving differentiated assessment and incentive systems, establishing a long-term stable scientific research funding support mechanism, and constructing a scientific and technological support system that is suitable for green productivity

Accelerate the green transformation of development mode. Deepen the implementation of ecological environment zoning control, optimize the development and protection pattern of national territory, enhance ecological security guarantee capabilities, deepen the reform of the source prevention system, and provide a green benchmark for optimizing productivity layout. Explore the development model of ecological industrialization, improve the mechanism for realizing the value of ecological products, and adapt to local conditions to transform the ecological value of green mountains and clear waters into the economic value of gold and silver. Promote the deep integration of industrial digitization, intelligence, and greening, and vigorously promote the upgrading of traditional industrial processes, technologies, and equipment. Strengthen project environmental impact assessment services and actively support the development of emerging and future industries. Strictly control environmental access barriers and resolutely curb the blind launch of high energy consumption, high emissions, and low-level projects. Support the development of green energy industry, vigorously promote the construction of large-scale wind and photovoltaic bases with a focus on deserts, Gobi, and desert areas, solidly promote the construction of major hydropower and pumped storage projects, and accelerate the construction of new power systems. We will comprehensively carry out collaborative innovation in multiple fields and levels to reduce pollution and carbon emissions, accelerate the green and low-carbon transformation of key industries, and promote high-quality ultra-low emission transformation in industries such as steel, cement, and coking. Accelerate the promotion of green, low-carbon, and intelligent industrial parks, and vigorously promote circular production methods. Promote the high-quality development of the green and environmental protection industry

Developing green productivity, adhering to the concept that green mountains and clear waters are as valuable as gold and silver, and promoting comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development is an inevitable requirement to meet the growing needs of the people for a beautiful ecological environment. The picture shows tourists hiking and admiring flowers at the Baili Dujuan Scenic Area in Bijie City, Guizhou Province on April 4, 2024 (drone photo). Xinhua News Agency's Li Hua/photo

Advocates a green and low-carbon lifestyle. Expanding the supply capacity of green products will be an important focus of promoting green consumption, building a green and low-carbon product standard, certification, and labeling system, promoting the integration of green design and manufacturing of consumer goods, and continuously increasing green procurement efforts.

Equipment updates and technological renovations, encourage traditional consumer goods such as cars and household appliances to trade in old for new, and promote durable consumer goods to trade in old for new. Focusing on new energy equipment, we will promote the trade in of non road mobile sources such as ports, urban logistics, and construction machinery. Strengthen the promotion and application of resource regeneration products and remanufactured products, improve the waste recycling system, improve the waste material recycling network, orderly promote the cascading utilization of wind power, photovoltaic, power batteries and other product equipment and key components, research and expand the coverage of waste electrical and electronic product treatment systems, and further extend the producer responsibility of waste electrical and electronic products. Cultivate a group of green supply chain leading enterprises, promote the application of green supply chain management technologies, standards, and certifications, and strengthen green supply chain management. We will continue to carry out the "Beautiful China, I am an Actor" series of activities, explore the establishment of public participation mechanisms such as "Carbon Inclusion", promote a simple and moderate, green and low-carbon, civilized and healthy lifestyle and consumption mode, and accelerate the formation of a new trend of green and low-carbon living

Improve the green and low-carbon policy system. Strengthen policy coordination and departmental linkage around key areas and key links. Establish a sound market-oriented allocation system for resources and environmental factors, steadily expand the industry coverage of the national carbon emission trading market, enrich the types, subjects, and methods of carbon market transactions, promote the construction of a national voluntary greenhouse gas emission reduction trading market, and gradually shift energy consumption control to total and intensity control of carbon emissions. Coordinate the standards of different green financial products such as credit, bonds, stocks, funds, insurance, etc., deepen the reform of environmental information disclosure, improve the framework for carbon emission information disclosure, and establish precise financial support policies. Build a sewage and garbage charging mechanism that covers costs and makes reasonable profits. Give full play to the leading role of environmental protection standards, promote the establishment of environmental protection standards for emerging industries, revise the guidance catalog for industrial structure adjustment, and serve the supply of green productivity with a high standard ecological environment system. We will promote the implementation of a number of major projects in key areas such as renewable energy, equipment upgrading and renovation in key industries, synergistic efficiency improvement in pollution reduction and carbon reduction, green consumption, innovation in green and low-carbon technology, and modern ecological environment infrastructure