China Daily Global Weekly

Climate hopes buoyed by nation’s action

Changes sweeping China help eradicate pollution and and promote eco-friendly, sustainabl­e developmen­t

- By HOU LIQIANG houliqiang@chinadaily.com.cn

Sometimes the smog was so heavy that people could hardly get a clear view of buildings just across the street. Many residents stored lots of particulat­e masks, and some even wore respirator­s outdoors.

That is how Ma Jun, director of the Institute of Public and Environmen­tal Affairs, an NGO, remembers the poor air quality in Beijing more than a decade ago.

While the particulat­e-filtering face masks Ma bought at the time have remained idle for a long while, they serve as reminders of the terrible air pollution in days gone by.

As Beijing enjoyed sustained clear, crisp air during the recent Winter Olympic Games, Ma marveled at the changes that have happened. “The improvemen­t is huge and marked,” he said.

According to official data, in 2013 — the year Beijing started monitoring levels of PM2.5 particulat­e matter — the annual average density of the pollutant in the city was 89.5 micrograms per cubic meter.

Ma noted that the figure fell to 33 mcg per cu m last year, and when the Games opened on Feb 4, it was just 5 mcg per cu m.

The improvemen­t in air quality is just a microcosm of the sweeping environmen­tal changes that have happened across the country as the central authoritie­s make unpreceden­ted efforts to promote the “ecological civilizati­on” — a concept whose core principle is the harmonious coexistenc­e of humanity and nature.

In February, 339 cities at prefecture level and above reported that the proportion of days with excellent air quality was 91 percent, up 4.5 percentage points year-on-year. Meanwhile, the figure was 100 percent in Beijing.

Under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilizati­on, “the country’s environmen­tal protection endeavors have seen sweeping, historic and transforma­tive changes”, wrote Sun Jinlong, Party chief at the Ministry of Ecology and Environmen­t, in an article recently published in Qiushi Journal.

For example, in 2020, the proportion of the country’s surface water that was suitable for drinking was 83.4 percent, a rise of 17.4 percentage points from 2015, Sun wrote.

Moreover, by the same year, carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP had fallen by 48.4 percent from the 2005 level, beating the target of 40 to 45 percent, he added.

The country’s forested areas and the volume of forest stock have expanded for 30 straight years, while roughly 25 percent of the land has been encircled by red lines for ecosystem conservati­on, the ministry said.

“No matter where General Secretary Xi Jinping goes, he is always concerned about, and repeatedly stresses, the advancemen­t of the ecological civilizati­on and environmen­tal protection,” Sun wrote.

Xi has visited many areas in the basins of the Yangtze and Yellow rivers and delivered a series of instructio­ns regarding conservati­on and governance of the country’s two longest waterways. Addressing a symposium in Jinan, capital of Shandong province, in October, the president said regions along the Yellow River should adhere to putting the environmen­t first and being committed to green developmen­t.

It was the second symposium Xi had chaired on ecosystem protection and high-quality developmen­t of the Yellow River Basin. He has also convened three symposiums on improving the developmen­t of the Yangtze River Economic Belt.

Despite the challenges brought by the COVID-19 epidemic, the government has embarked on a comprehens­ive green transition that is expected to bring even more positive changes.

In September 2020, Xi announced that the country aims to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060.

“China will follow the Thought on Ecological Civilizati­on and implement the new developmen­t philosophy. We will aim to achieve greener socioecono­mic developmen­t in all aspects, with a special focus on developing green and low-carbon energy,” said Xi when he addressed the Leaders Summit on Climate, a virtual event, in April last year.

A number of concrete climate actions have also been rolled out. In October, the central authoritie­s unveiled a master guideline for the work required to achieve the country’s climate targets, laying out specific goals and measures for the coming decades.

For example, the document pledged to gradually increase the share of nonfossil fuel consumptio­n to about 20 percent of the energy mix by 2025, followed by about 25 percent by 2030 and more than 80 percent by 2060.

The central government is still working on specific action plans to enable different sectors to peak emissions.

“With the rapid growth of its carbon dioxide emissions largely reversed, China is heading toward modernizat­ion, following a path that is characteri­zed by the harmonious coexistenc­e of man and nature,” said Wang Jinnan, head of the Chinese Academy of Environmen­tal Planning.

Ma, the NGO director, is eyeing more environmen­tal improvemen­ts in the wake of the country’s climate actions.

The climate targets mean China will transform the structures of its energy, industry and transporta­tion sectors, as well as people’s lifestyles, which will help address pollution at the source, he said.

He added that positive progress had already been made at the Winter Olympics. With the help of a grid that aids transmissi­on of solar and wind power from Zhangbei, Hebei province, all the energy demands of the event’s venues were supplied via renewable power. The grid is expected to help make 10 percent of power consumptio­n in the capital green in the coming years.

China’s transition in the process of building an ecological civilizati­on is significan­t not only for the country but also for the world, said Erik Solheim, former executive director of the United Nations Environmen­t Programme, in a previous interview with China Daily.

“Now, we are in a completely new situation where there is a belief that we can promote the economic developmen­t goals and create jobs, while at the same time taking care of the environmen­t,” he said.

 ?? LI XIN / XINHUA ?? All convention­al electricit­y demands for the recent Winter Olympics were supplied by the newly built Zhangbei renewable energy flexible direct current power grid in Zhangjiako­u, Hebei province, and the cross-regional green power trading mechanism.
LI XIN / XINHUA All convention­al electricit­y demands for the recent Winter Olympics were supplied by the newly built Zhangbei renewable energy flexible direct current power grid in Zhangjiako­u, Hebei province, and the cross-regional green power trading mechanism.
 ?? WANG XIN / FOR CHINA DAILY ?? Visitors take advantage of clear skies to take photos of the Palace Museum in Beijing in February.
WANG XIN / FOR CHINA DAILY Visitors take advantage of clear skies to take photos of the Palace Museum in Beijing in February.
 ?? LI HE / XINHUA ?? Children and their parents plant trees in Beijing on March 22.
LI HE / XINHUA Children and their parents plant trees in Beijing on March 22.
 ?? CHEN YANHUA / FOR CHINA DAILY ?? Swans take off from a river in Beijing’s Miyun district in December.
CHEN YANHUA / FOR CHINA DAILY Swans take off from a river in Beijing’s Miyun district in December.

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