On the afternoon of April 30, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee conducted its 29th collective study session on strengthening China's ecological civilization construction under the new circumstances. Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, presided over the session and emphasized that ecological environmental protection and economic development are dialectically unified and mutually reinforcing. Building an ecological civilization and promoting green, low-carbon, and circular development can not only meet the people's growing needs for a beautiful ecological environment but also drive higher-quality, more efficient, fairer, more sustainable, and safer development. This approach paves the way for a civilized development path characterized by productive growth, affluent living, and sound ecology. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China's ecological civilization construction has entered a critical phase focusing on carbon reduction as the strategic priority, promoting the synergistic effects of pollution reduction and carbon mitigation, advancing comprehensive green transformation in socioeconomic development, and achieving qualitative improvements in ecological environmental quality. It is essential to fully, accurately, and comprehensively implement the new development philosophy, maintain strategic resolve, and plan socioeconomic development from the perspective of harmonious coexistence between humans and nature. We must adhere to the basic national policies of resource conservation and environmental protection, prioritize conservation and protection, and emphasize natural restoration. By shaping spatial layouts, industrial structures, production methods, and lifestyles that conserve resources and protect the environment, we can coordinate pollution control, ecological conservation, and climate change response to continuously improve the ecological environment and strive to build a modern society where humans and nature coexist harmoniously.
Comrade Wang Jinnan, President of the Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning under the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, delivered a lecture on the topic and proposed work suggestions. Members of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee listened attentively to his lecture and engaged in discussions.
Xi Jinping delivered an important speech while presiding over the study session. He pointed out that since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, we have strengthened the Party's overall leadership over ecological conservation, prioritized this work in the overall development plan, and taken a holistic approach to conserve and restore mountain, water, forest, farmland, grassland, and desert ecosystems. A series of fundamental, pioneering, and long-term tasks have been carried out with unprecedented resolve, intensity, and effectiveness, leading to historic, transformative, and comprehensive changes in ecological conservation both in theory and practice. However, China still faces many challenges in this regard. Ecological restoration and improvement is a long and arduous process that requires persistent and strenuous efforts; it cannot be achieved overnight. We must remain unwavering and proactive in our efforts.
Xi stressed that China's socialist modernization features many important characteristics, one of which is the harmony between humanity and nature. We must not only develop material abundance but also promote ecological conservation. We must continue to promote green and low-carbon development, establish and improve an economic system for green and low-carbon circular development, and expedite the green transformation of economic and social development. The synergy of reducing pollution and carbon emissions should be taken as the overarching approach to promote the green transformation of economic and social development. Efforts should be accelerated to adjust industrial structure, energy mix, transportation structure, and land use. We should strengthen spatial planning and use control, implement spatial boundaries for ecological conservation, basic farmland, and urban development, implement the strategy of major function zones, and draw and strictly enforce redlines for ecological conservation. We should focus on the source of resource utilization, promote the management of total resources, scientific allocation, comprehensive conservation, and recycling, and improve the efficiency of resource utilization across the board. We should focus on the key area of industrial restructuring, accelerate the development of strategic emerging industries, high-tech industries, and modern service industries, promote clean, low-carbon, safe, and efficient use of energy, and continue to reduce carbon emission intensity. We should support the application of green and low-carbon technological innovations and the development of green technologies. Achieving carbon peak and carbon neutrality is a solemn pledge China has made to the world, and it is also a broad and profound economic and social transformation that cannot be achieved easily. Party committees and governments at all levels must show the determination to leave their mark, clarify the timetable, roadmap, and construction drawings, and promote economic and social development based on efficient resource utilization and green and low-carbon development. High energy-consuming and high-emission projects that fail to meet the requirements must be resolutely discontinued.
Xi Jinping stressed the need to make further progress in the battle against pollution, addressing prominent environmental issues affecting the people, so that they can truly see improvements in ecological and environmental quality. Efforts should be made to tackle pollution in a targeted, scientific, and law-based manner. We must maintain the intensity, extend the depth, and broaden the scope of our efforts, continuing the fight to keep our skies blue, waters clear, and lands pollution-free. It is important to strengthen the coordinated control of multiple pollutants and regional collaborative governance, enhance the coordinated control of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone, and basically eliminate heavy pollution weather. We must take a holistic approach to managing water resources, the water environment, and aquatic ecosystems, effectively safeguard the safety of drinking water for residents, and resolutely tackle urban black and odorous water bodies. We should advance soil pollution prevention and control, and effectively manage the risks of soil pollution in agricultural land and construction sites. Efforts should be made to implement waste sorting, reduction, and recycling, and pay attention to the treatment of new pollutants. Pollution control should be extended to towns, villages, and rural areas, with strengthened efforts to address agricultural non-point source pollution, significantly improving the living environment in rural areas.
Xi Jinping pointed out that we must enhance the quality and stability of ecosystems, adhere to a systemic approach, and promote the integrated protection and restoration of mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes, grasslands, and deserts, with greater emphasis on comprehensive, systematic, and source-based governance. We should accelerate the establishment of a protected areas system with national parks as the mainstay, and improve the supervision system for protected areas and ecological conservation redlines. Mechanisms for realizing the value of ecological products should be established and improved, so that protecting and restoring ecosystems receive reasonable returns, while those who damage the ecological environment pay the corresponding price. Scientific approaches should be adopted to advance comprehensive control of desertification, rocky desertification, and soil erosion, and carry out large-scale land greening initiatives. We should implement measures to allow grasslands, forests, rivers, and lakes to recuperate, enforce the 10-year fishing ban in the Yangtze River, and improve the fallow and crop rotation system for farmland. Major projects for biodiversity conservation should be implemented, with strengthened control over invasive species, and the successful hosting of the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15).
Xi Jinping emphasized the need to actively promote global sustainable development, uphold the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind, actively participate in global environmental governance, provide more global public goods, and demonstrate China's image as a responsible major country. We should strengthen South-South cooperation and cooperation with neighboring countries, providing developing countries with financial and technical support within our capacity to help improve their environmental governance capabilities and jointly build a green Belt and Road. We must adhere to the principles of common but differentiated responsibilities, equity, and respective capabilities, firmly uphold multilateralism, and resolutely safeguard China's development interests.
Xi Jinping emphasized the need to advance the modernization of the ecological and environmental governance system and capabilities. He called for improving the environmental governance system under the leadership of Party committees, with the government playing a leading role, enterprises as the main actors, and the active participation of social organizations and the public. A coordinated mechanism for integrated planning, deployment, implementation, and evaluation should be established. Efforts should be intensified to deepen reforms of the ecological civilization system and strengthen the legal and policy support for green development. It is essential to refine the management of binding targets for environmental protection, energy conservation, and emissions reduction, and to establish a stable financial investment mechanism. A comprehensive pollutant discharge permit system should be implemented, along with promoting market-based trading of pollution discharge rights, energy-use rights, water-use rights, and carbon emission rights, while establishing a sound risk management and control mechanism. Public awareness of conservation, environmental protection, and ecological preservation should be enhanced, advocating a simple, moderate, green, and low-carbon lifestyle, and transforming the building of a Beautiful China into a conscious action of all people. Party committees and governments at all levels must shoulder the political responsibility for ecological progress, ensuring strict compliance with directives and effective implementation of the Party Central Committee's decisions and plans on ecological civilization construction.