The construction of ecological civilization is a major political issue related to the mission and purpose of the Party, and a major social issue related to people's livelihood and well-being. On September 25th, the State Council Information Office held a series of themed press conferences on "Promoting High Quality Development", and relevant officials from the Ministry of Ecology and Environment introduced the relevant situation.

The effectiveness of coordinating high-quality development and high-level protection continues to improve

To build a modern socialist country in all respects, we must, first and foremost, pursue high-quality development. In recent years, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment has adhered to promoting high-quality development through high-level protection, coordinating efforts to reduce carbon emissions, pollution, expand greenery, and promote growth, and continuously improving the effectiveness of coordinated development and protection, "said Huang Runqiu, Minister of Ecology and Environment.

Continuously deepening the battle against pollution prevention and control, the "gold content" of the ecological environment has significantly improved. Adhering to precise, scientific, and lawful pollution control, we will fight to defend blue skies, clear waters, and clean lands with higher standards, and significantly improve the quality of the ecological environment. "Huang Runqiu introduced that last year, the average concentration of PM2.5 (fine particulate matter) in key cities across the country was 30 micrograms per cubic meter, a decrease of 54% from 10 years ago, and the number of heavily polluted days decreased by 83%. Last year, the proportion of high-quality surface water sections in China reached 89.4%, an increase of 25.3 percentage points from 10 years ago. The main stream of the Yangtze River has remained stable at Class II water quality for four consecutive years, and the main stream of the Yellow River has remained stable for two consecutive years. The national forest coverage rate has reached 24.02%, and about 1/4 of the world's newly added green area since the beginning of this century comes from China.

Efforts will be made to promote the synergistic effect of pollution reduction and carbon reduction, and the development of "green content" will significantly increase. Huang Runqiu introduced that we will continue to promote the optimization and adjustment of industrial structure, and have eliminated a total of 1 billion tons of outdated coal production capacity, 300 million tons of steel production capacity, and 400 million tons of cement production capacity; More than 95% of coal-fired power units and over 45% of crude steel production capacity have completed ultra-low emission transformation, building the world's largest clean power system and clean steel production system. Accelerate the promotion of clean and efficient energy utilization, and the proportion of coal consumption in primary energy consumption has decreased from 67.4% 10 years ago to 55.3% last year; Complete the renovation of clean heating and loose coal treatment for 39 million households in the northern region. In terms of green transformation in transportation, over 40 million high emission vehicles have been phased out in the past 10 years.

Adhering to the safety bottom line of building a beautiful China, the ecological foundation for high-quality development is more stable. Huang Runqiu introduced that China's land ecological protection red line area accounts for over 30%, and a natural protected area system with national parks as the main body has been basically established. To achieve zero import of solid waste, China has completed environmental remediation in 185000 administrative villages and designated protected areas for 24000 towns and above drinking water sources since 2017.

We will comprehensively promote the reform of the ecological civilization system and continuously improve the institutional framework for green, low-carbon, and high-quality development. Huang Runqiu introduced that the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China has established and implemented a series of major systems such as the Central Ecological Environment Protection Inspection. The concept of "green mountains and clear waters are as valuable as mountains of gold and silver" and the idea of prioritizing ecology and promoting green development have become more deeply rooted in people's hearts.

The current construction of ecological civilization is still in a critical period of pressure and burden. The Ministry of Ecology and Environment will fully implement the deployment of the National Ecological Environment Protection Conference, deepen the reform of the ecological civilization system, make every effort to promote the continuous improvement and fundamental improvement of the ecological environment, and strive to build a beautiful China where humans and nature coexist harmoniously, "said Huang Runqiu.

Promote the construction of a beautiful China in stages, steps, and a planned system

The battle to protect the blue sky is of paramount importance in the battle against pollution prevention and control. The Opinion of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Comprehensively Promoting the Construction of a Beautiful China proposes that by 2035, the concentration of fine particulate matter in the country will be reduced to below 25 micrograms per cubic meter, achieving constant fresh air and blue skies.

Zhao Yingmin, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, stated that in the past, efforts were made to eliminate outdated production capacity and clean heating in northern regions, comprehensively crack down on illegal and irregular emissions, and achieve positive results. However, the emission reduction dividends brought by these measures have been significantly reduced. Air pollution control has entered the deep water zone, and in the future, it will rely more on the green and low-carbon transformation of industries, energy, and transportation structures.

Zhao Yingmin stated that in the next step, we will anchor the goal of a beautiful China, take the continuous battle to defend the blue sky as the starting point, and solidly promote the development of green and low-carbon transformation. Highlight precise pollution control, increase efforts in structural optimization and adjustment, and promote high-quality ultra-low emission transformation in the steel, cement, and coking industries. Highlighting scientific pollution control, vigorously promoting the reduction of nitrogen oxides and volatile organic pollutants, and coordinating the control of ozone pollution. Highlighting the rule of law in pollution control, further improving the legal and regulatory standard system, deepening the management of pollutant discharge permits, implementing "one enterprise, one policy", and resolutely opposing "one size fits all".

The protection of Rivers and Lakes concerns the well-being of the people. The problem with water lies in the water, but the root lies on the shore. Only by firmly grasping the "bull's nose" of investigating and rectifying the discharge outlets into the river, and forcing the treatment of various pollution sources on the shore, can the problem be solved. Guo Fang, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, said that a total of 560000 kilometers of river and lake shorelines have been investigated, promoting the solution of nearly 200000 direct and disorderly sewage discharge problems.

Guo Fang stated that the prevention and control of water pollution and the restoration of water ecology still have a long way to go. In the next step, we will take the construction of beautiful rivers and lakes as an important starting point, strengthen the coordination of water resources, water environment, and water ecology, urge local governments to make up for the outstanding shortcomings of environmental infrastructure, promote the construction of an integrated ecological environment governance system for important flow areas, and stabilize and improve the quality of water ecological environment.

The current and next 10 years are crucial periods for comprehensively promoting the construction of a beautiful China. The Ministry of Ecology and Environment will effectively shoulder the responsibility of the leading department, anchor the goal of building a beautiful China, and systematically promote the construction of a beautiful China in stages, steps, and plans, achieving in-depth breakthroughs in the 14th Five Year Plan, consolidation and expansion in the 15th Five Year Plan, and overall improvement in the 16th Five Year Plan. Huang Runqiu stated that at the same time, we will carry out a nationwide action to build a beautiful China, vigorously promote ecological culture, guide the practice of green and low-carbon lifestyles, and jointly write a new chapter of beautiful China with each other's beauty and shared beauty.

Further expand the coverage of the carbon market industry

In recent years, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, together with relevant departments, has focused on promoting the experience of the 'Ten Million Project', paying attention to 'front and back of houses', closely monitoring' roadside areas', and promoting the solution of environmental problems that concern the masses. "Guo Fang said that since the 14th Five Year Plan, 67000 administrative villages have completed environmental improvement nationwide, with a rural domestic sewage treatment rate of over 45%, and the rural ecological environment has been significantly improved.

China has a wide range of villages, but environmental problems still occur from time to time, "said Guo Fang." We need to establish a sound problem detection mechanism, conduct investigations and evidence collection, case reporting, and regular scheduling through random sampling and "four no's and two direct" methods, timely discover and solve problems, and expand the effectiveness of rural environmental remediation. Next, we will introduce an implementation plan for the construction of beautiful rural areas, and comprehensively promote the revitalization of rural ecology and the improvement of rural living environment.

The carbon market is an important measure to control greenhouse gas emissions and achieve carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals through market mechanisms. Zhao Yingmin introduced that in July 2021 and January 2024, China successively launched the national carbon emission trading market and the national voluntary greenhouse gas emission reduction trading market, which together constitute the national carbon market system. The construction of the carbon market has made positive progress and achievements. "The national carbon market has achieved a stable start and operation, and the market vitality has steadily increased, fully demonstrating the effectiveness and importance of mobilizing the whole society to actively participate in carbon reduction, pollution reduction, green expansion, and growth through market means

Next, we will improve the carbon emission statistics and accounting system in accordance with the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, further expand the coverage of the carbon market industry, release more methodologies, include more participating entities, strictly supervise the quality of carbon market data, and focus on building a more effective, dynamic, and internationally influential carbon market, "said Zhao Yingmin.

Ecological environment monitoring is the fundamental and supportive work of ecological environment protection. Dong Baotong, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and Director of the National Nuclear Safety Administration, introduced that China has built the world's largest, most complete, and technologically advanced ecological environment monitoring network, which plays an important supporting role in ecological environment protection and pollution prevention and control.

In terms of network scale, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment directly organizes monitoring of 33000 sites, including 1734 air monitoring sites, 3646 surface water monitoring sites, 1912 groundwater monitoring sites, 1359 ocean monitoring sites, 1834 radiation monitoring sites, and 22000 soil monitoring sites, covering all prefecture level and above cities, key watersheds, and jurisdictional waters.

From the perspective of monitoring elements, in addition to traditional key monitoring contents such as water, gas, and soil, ecological quality monitoring, biodiversity monitoring, greenhouse gas monitoring, and new pollutant monitoring have also been added, basically achieving full coverage.

Next, we will focus on promoting the modernization of the ecological environment monitoring system, improving the monitoring network, strengthening monitoring supervision, enhancing data application, and advancing the digital transformation of monitoring, "said Dong Baotong.