Practicing Green Development and Building a Beautiful China

On September 23, at a press conference held at the 19th CPC National Congress Press Center on "Practicing the Green Development Concept and Building a Beautiful China," Li Ganjie, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Minister of Environmental Protection, stated that since the 18th CPC National Congress, the Party Central Committee has planned and carried out a series of fundamental, long-term, and pioneering initiatives, achieving remarkable results in ecological civilization construction—the best period in terms of effectiveness.

Li Ganjie said that the current situation is unprecedented in five aspects. "First, the depth of ideological understanding is unprecedented," Li Ganjie said, noting that the entire Party and the nation's awareness and initiative in implementing the green development concept have significantly increased.

Second, the intensity of pollution control is unprecedented. According to statistics, since my country issued and implemented the three "Ten Measures"—the three major action plans for air, water, and soil pollution prevention and control—the construction of environmental infrastructure such as sewage and garbage treatment has accelerated. To date, more than 18 million yellow-label vehicles and old vehicles have been phased out; comprehensive rural environmental remediation has benefited nearly 200 million rural residents.

"Third, the frequency of policy issuance is unprecedented," said Li Ganjie. The Central Leading Group for Comprehensively Deepening Reforms reviewed and approved more than 40 specific reform plans for ecological civilization and environmental protection.

"Fourth, the strictness of supervision and enforcement is unprecedented." Several laws, including the Environmental Protection Law, the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Law, the Environmental Protection Tax Law, and the Nuclear Safety Law, have been revised and formulated. The new regulations and mechanisms have played a significant role in promoting corporate compliance.

Fifth, the speed of environmental quality improvement is unprecedented. In 2016, the annual average PM2.5 concentration in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta, and the Pearl River Delta all decreased by more than 30% compared to 2013, when the "Ten Measures for Air Pollution Prevention and Control" were formulated and implemented.

The 19th National Congress report put forward a series of new ideas, new requirements, new goals, and new deployments for ecological civilization construction and environmental protection. Li Ganjie said that the new goals are: by 2020, to resolutely win the battle against pollution; and by 2035, to fundamentally improve the ecological environment and basically achieve the goal of a beautiful China.

Li Ganjie believes that building a beautiful China requires shouldering political responsibility; promoting green development and lifestyles; addressing prominent environmental problems such as air, water, and soil pollution; strengthening ecosystem protection and restoration; and deepening the reform of the ecological civilization system.

Regarding air pollution, a matter of great public concern, Li Ganjie emphasized that we must now "win the battle for blue skies." The goals set in the 13th Five-Year Plan for Ecological and Environmental Protection must be achieved, namely, the percentage of days with good or excellent air quality in all 338 prefecture-level cities nationwide must reach over 80%, and the PM2.5 concentration in cities that do not meet the standards must decrease by 18% compared to 2015.

"We are currently also studying the goal of fundamentally improving the ecological environment by 2035," Li Ganjie said.

In terms of river basin management, according to the "Ecological and Environmental Protection Plan for the Yangtze River Economic Belt," it is expected that by the end of 2017, 11 provinces will have completed the delineation of provincial-level ecological protection red lines. The Ministry of Environmental Protection has launched the ecological and environmental protection and remediation work for drinking water sources in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, and plans to comprehensively remediate all 1,320 centralized drinking water sources at the county level and above throughout the entire Yangtze River Economic Belt within two years.