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Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the Party Central Committee
with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has taken seriously the issue of
environmental protection from a global and strategic standpoint,
introducing a series of new thoughts, strategies, and requirements for
the construction of ecological civilization, deepening reforms, and
strengthening law enforcement in ecological preservation and
environmental protection. China’s environmental conditions have been
historically and fundamentally improved, with solid steps taken in
implementing the Beautiful China Initiative. 
I. The thought on ecological civilization has improved China’s environmental protection system 1. Guiding role of Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization The 18th CPC National Congress incorporated “ecological civilization”
into the five-pronged development of socialism with Chinese
characteristics. The Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC National
Congress established the new development concept that features
innovative, coordinated, green, open, and shared development. The 19th CPC National Congress reaffirmed that China would adhere to
the harmonious coexistence between man and nature, which was included as
one of the 14 basic strategies for developing socialism with Chinese
characteristics in the new era; and set the goal of building a
“Beautiful China”. At the same time, the Party Constitution has incorporated the concept
that “lush mountains and lucid waters are invaluable assets” together
with the New Development Concept, Ecological Civilization and the
Beautiful China Initiative, all of which have contributed enormously to
China’s ecological preservation and environmental protection. At the National Conference on Ecological and Environmental Protection
held on May 18, 2018, General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered an
important speech, answering major theoretical and practical questions
such as “why build an ecological civilization, what kind of ecological
civilization to build, and how to build an ecological civilization”. The
Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization was officially
established as the fundamental guidance for the country’s campaign to
build a “Beautiful China” and achieve harmonious coexistence between man
and nature.
2. Improvement of the environmental protection system Since the 18th CPC National Congress, theOpinions on Accelerating the Construction of Ecological Civilizationand theGeneral Plan for Reforming the Ecological Civilization Systemhave
been released. More than 30 laws and administrative regulations in the
field have been formulated or revised, and a legal and regulatory system
covering all fields of environmental protection has been established.
3. Greater contribution to global environmental governance Since the 18th CPC National Congress, China has actively promoted and
led the global negotiation process on climate change that resulted in
the eventual signing of the Paris Climate Agreement. China also made the
solemn commitment to peak its carbon emission by 2030 and achieve
carbon neutrality by 2060. In addition, China is actively promoting the
United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. China held the
15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 15) to the Convention
on Biological Diversity which led to the announcement of the Kunming
Declaration; organized the 14th Meeting of the Conference of the
Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (COP14); and
built the Belt and Road Initiative International Green Development
Coalition (BRIGC) and the Belt and Road Initiative Environmental Big
Data Platform, contributing Chinese concept and wisdom to global
environmental governance.
II. China has launched a full fight against pollution and greatly improved its environmental quality 1. Important victory of the fight for “blue sky, lucid water, and clean soil” In 2021, the share of coal in China’s primary energy mix dropped to
56.0%, down 12.5% from 2012; the proportion of clean energy consumption
increased to 25.5%; the installed capacity of and electricity generated
by photovoltaic and wind power ranked first in the world; the rate of
clean heating in northern areas reached 73.6%; steel plants with a total
of about 680 million tons of crude steel capacity are under low-carbon
transformation; 1 billion kilowatts of coal-fired power units have
achieved ultra-low emission, making China the country with the world’s
largest clean coal-fired power system; coal-fired boilers of less than
35 steam tons have been phased out in key regions, and boilers with a
capacity above 65 steam tons have been renovated for ultra-low emission. As of 2021, polluted rivers in 295 cities at the prefecture level or
above had been treated; all 10,638 rural water sources nationwide
supplying 1,000 tons of water per day or serving more than 10,000 people
were designated as protected areas; pollution surveys were completed
covering all the tributary mouths on the Yangtze River, the outfall of
the Yellow River in the Bohai Sea, the river mouths on the upper stream
of the Yellow River and some sections of its middle reaches. A special
campaign to rectify sewage treatment facilities was organized covering
all the industrial parks along the Yangtze River, and 1,064 industrial
parks had built centralized sewage treatment facilities. Soil pollution surveys of agricultural land and corporate land in key
industries have been completed, and all 2,783 agriculture-related
departments at the county level have completed the classification of
arable land by soil quality. Since 2018, China has launched a campaign
against smuggling of used electronic products from overseas for four
consecutive years, bringing down such imports to zero. At the same time,
the “waste cleaning” campaign along the Yangtze River Economic Belt has
been organized for three consecutive years, cleaning up 56.8 million
tons of solid waste.
2. Environmental quality continues to improve In 2021, the average percentage of clean-air days in 339
prefecture-level cities and above hit 87.5%, 6.3 percentage points
higher than in 2015; 218 cities met the air quality standards,
accounting for 64.3%, up 35% over 2015. The average concentration of the
six basic pollutants had decreased year by year, of which, the
concentration of PM2.5 was 30 μg/m3, down 34.8% from 2015; the
concentration of O₃ was 137 μg/m3, down for the second consecutive year.
Air pollution prevention and control have improved significantly in
major regions, and the proportion of clear-air days in the
Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and the Yangtze River Delta increased by
13.5 and 8.0 percentage points respectively against 2015, far
outperforming the national average.
III. Strengthened efforts in ecological protection and effective results in ecological restoration 1. Steady improvement of ecological conditions The Ninth National Forest Resources Inventory (2014-2018) shows that,
as of 2018, China’s forest coverage had reached 22.96%, forest area had
hit 220.5 million hectares, and forest accumulation had amounted to
17.6 billion cubic meters. Compared with the Eighth National Forest
Resources Inventory (2009-2013), forest coverage increased by 1.33
percentage points, forest area increased 12.8 million hectares and
forest accumulation increased 2.4 billion cubic meters, and the forest
area and forest accumulation have grown steadily for 30 consecutive
years. In terms of grassland resources, from 2013 to 2021, the Chinese
government invested more than 170 billion yuan to incentivize the
ecological protection of grassland, nearly 267 million hectares of
grassland was put under protection. China also launched a restoration
campaign for its grassland, designating a total of 253 million hectares
of grassland for protection, and natural grassland coverage had reached
56.1%. In terms of wetland resources, from 2013-2021, the Chinese
government invested 16.9 billion yuan for more than 3,400 wetland
preservation projects, adding or restoring more than 800,000 hectares of
wetlands, designating 64 wetlands of international importance, and
wetland protection and restoration have entered a new stage. The nature reserve system in China has continued to improve. A total
of 10 national park pilot projects were rolled out, construction of the
first batch of national parks and the integration of nature reserves was
kicked off, and a nature reserve system centering on natural parks has
basically been established. At present, the total area of nature
reserves accounts for about 18% of the country’s land territory, with 5
national parks and 41 world geoparks, and the number of world geoparks
has steadily ranked first in the world.
2. Great progress in ecological protection and restoration China has actively implemented the “green land” campaign and advanced
key projects such as the Three Northern Protected Forests, Natural
Forest Protection, Returning Cultivated Land to Forests and Grasses,
Returning Grazing Land to Grasses, and Containing Sandstorm Sources of
the Beijing-Tianjin area. Total afforestation area reached 59.4 million
hectares from 2013 to 2021, including 32.2 million hectares of
artificial afforestation, accounting for 54.2% of the total. Voluntary
tree-planting activities were carried out in all forms across the
country. Quality of forests was significantly improved, with an average
of 8.3 million hectares of forest added each year. China has also
designated 152 national forest cities and a great number of forest
villages. From 2013 to 2021, a total of 17.27 million hectares of desert was
harnessed; a total of 1.9 million hectares of forestation was added to
the north of the Beijing-Tianjin area, fixating 66,000 hectares of sand
dunes; the total area of sandy land under closed-off protection reached
1.8 million hectares; 41 national demonstration areas for
desertification containment and 125 national desert parks have been
built.
IV. Better living environment with green and low carbon lifestyle becoming new trend 1. Continuous improvement of living environment in both rural and urban areas In 2020, total investment in urban environmental infrastructure
reached 523.6 billion yuan, an increase of 36.2% over 2012, among which
investment in sewage treatment and recycling and waste treatment
increased 2.7 times and 5.4 times respectively; daily treatment capacity
of urban sewage plants reached 192.7 million cubic meters, up 64.2%
over 2012; sewage treatment rate hit 97.5%, up 10.2 percentage points;
harmless treatment capacity of domestic waste reached 963,000 tons/day,
an increase of 115.9% over 2012. In 2020, green coverage in urban built-up areas reached 42.1%, up 2.5
percentage points over 2012; green space rate in built-up areas hit
38.2%, up 2.5 percentage points over 2012. Improvement of rural habitat is in full swing. China has held firmly
to the bottom line of drinking water safety. In 2021, tap water
penetration rate in rural areas reached 84%, 8 percentage points higher
than in 2015. A “toilet revolution” was rolled out in rural areas, and
over 40 million rural toilets have been upgraded since 2018. In 2021,
the penetration rate of sanitary toilet exceeded 70%.
2. Green lifestyle is leading the trend Low-carbon travel is becoming more convenient with an improved public
transportation system. In 2021, mileage of urban rail transit in
operation reached about 8,736 km, an increase of about 3.2 times over
the end of 2012; public buses driven by new energy had accounted for
more than 66% of all public buses running in cities; 318 cities at or
above the prefecture level now support one-card-for-all public
transportation means. China also had a total of more than 19 million
shared bikes, with an average daily order volume exceeding 45 million.
New energy vehicles have shown a momentum of explosive growth, too, as
of the end of 2021, the number of new energy vehicles had reached 7.8
million, an increase of about 5.6 times compared with the end of 2016;
accounting for 2.6% of the total number of vehicles, up 2.0 percentage
points; sales of new energy vehicles reached 3.5 million, an increase of
about 5.9 times. Green lifestyle has become the new fashion. China has promoted the
garbage sorting campaign in an orderly manner, and sorting of domestic
garbage has been fully practiced in cities at or above the
prefecture-level. As of the end of 2021, a total of 263,900 residential
communities in 297 cities had carried out domestic garbage sorting.
Since the launch of the “clean plate” campaign in 2013, the social
atmosphere of saving food has been created, and theAnti-Food Waste Lawhas provided additional legal support for the campaign.
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