By Wang Fang

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Green Adds Color to ‘Beautiful China'

By Wang Fang

Technicians conducting routine tests on the microalgae in the growth phase at the Shijiazhuang Refining Microalgae Breeding Demonstration Base， the first to use carbon dioxide of refinery as the carbon source in China. The amount of carbon dioxide absorbed by organisms is 10-50 times that by forest. The microalgae can be used as fundamental raw materials for biodiesel， thus are recyclable

The Proposal of the CPC Central Committee for the 13th Five-Year Plan for economic and social development（2016-2020） -hereinather referred to as “the Proposal” - clearly stated： “To achieve green development， we should uphold the basic State policy of saving energy and promoting environment conservancy， persist in sustainable development， and firmly march along the development path of developed production and a life of well-being in a good environment， so as to set up a new pattern of modern construction with harmonious development between humans and nature，pressing on with the construction of a ‘beautiful China' and make contribution to global ecological security.”

The proposal devoted much space to fitting general improvement of ecological and environmental quality into the vision of building a moderately prosperous society. Green development has been listed as one of the five major development concepts in the Proposal. A green approach will be the dominant tone in economic and social development in the future.

Green Development

Xu Shaoshi， head of the National Development and Reform Commission（NDRC）， observed： “Green development is a common public concern. It is also an important issue concerning sustainable development.” Currently， water， air and land pollution are outstanding issues we have to deal with.

Along with economic and social development， the environmental issue is becoming an obvious bottleneck in building a moderately prosperous society. A traditional extensive style of economic growth brought great achievements in China's economic and social development， which has also led to increasing severe constraints on national energy resources and the environment.

Official figures showed that few of China's 161 cities reached the desired standard of air quality in 2014. About 19.4 percent of the checkpoints of arable land were badly affected， and the underground water of nearly 60 percent of the cities was of low quality.

China ranks first in energy consumption and carbon emissions in the world. Over the past decade， these two increments accounted for 50 and 60 percent of the world total respectively， and its per capita carbon emissions reached 600 million tons，a third higher than the world level.

Kang Yanbing， the director of the Energy and Sustainable Development Research Center of the Energy Research Institute of NDRC， stressed： “This means we can hardly maintain the development model with high energy consumption， high carbon emission and high pollution. We have to embark on a new path.”

Actually， green development has been gaining increased attention. China had taken actions to tackle the wide range of environment issues and sought to control the various pollutants. Dealing with smog has been the focus in recent years. In 2013，the State Council issued the Action Plan on Air Pollution Prevention and Control. By 2015， China had begun implementing stricter environmental protection regulations while many key areas， such as Beijing，Tianjin， Hebei and their surroundings， as well as the Yangtze River Delta Region， also formulated corresponding action plans.

China has certainly made progress in energy saving and environmental protection. The first four years of the 12th Five-Year Plan saw energy consumption drop by 13 percent， water consumption by 24 percent，and carbon dioxide emissions by 15 percent. Chemical Oxygen Demand （COD）， ammoniac nitrogen levels in water and sulfur dioxide emissions have decreased sharply and the total amount of pollutant discharge effectively brought under control. A series of measures are to be adopted in the 13th Five-Year Plan to strengthen environmental protection and ecological construction， so as to achieve green development.

Finance Guaranteeing

The proposal included institutional innovation for green development and the improvement of the environment.

Green development needs capital， so the proposal included “developing green finance and establishing a green development fund”.that offers good opportunities for the overall development of green finance.

Experts have suggested that the national financial department should， as one of its basic policies， stress the importance of environmental protection and pollutant treatment in financial activities and enhance green development by guiding the relevant economic resources to achieve results. Moreover， efforts should be made to further clarify the key tasks of green financial reform during the 13th Five-Year Plan，promote breakthroughs in key fields， such as establishing green banks， green funds and developing green bonds， etc.

The proposal also stated clearly “the need to strengthen targeted management to control energy， water and land resources. Work should be done to implement the action plan for energy conservation， so as to improve standards in regard to energy， water， land， material and mineral conservation，and lead the way of energy and water efficiency. these measures will help save energy，water and land resources and reduce pollutant discharges at source，”as pointed out by Yang Duogui， director of the Institute of Policy and Management of Chinese Academy of Sciences. He further stated “the need to press on with the transformation of the economic growth model and improve China's economic green development”.

Path for Green Development

China is now faced with a great challenge of how to balance economic development and environment protection，and how to gain more development outcomes at lower cost in terms of energy and carbon emission. More efforts need to be made in this regard.

In regard to green development， Kang Yanbing has his own interpretations. He said that low carbon development focused on efficient and clean use of energy. The burning of fossil fuel produces more than 90 percent of carbon dioxide of the total emission in the world， hence the core of any low carbon development has to focus on energy， i.e.， we should support economic and social development with less and cleaner energy. Circular economic development emphasizes comprehensive and recycled energy utilization， as well as terminal treatment of regional pollutants and promotion of ecosystem construction to protect the environment.

“Low carbon development will become an increasingly important index because it is not a universal concept. For China， achieving low carbon development will promote energy saving and prioritize the energy consumption structure， as well as helping to deal with air pollution，” said Kang.

He further explained that， if we do a good job of low carbon development， and then focus on end-of-pipe treatment and ecological construction， we may achieve green development and promote China's sustainable development under the restrictions of environment and resources protection.

China will adopt three measures for environment protection and ecological construction during the 13th Five-Year Plan. First， to implement low carbon development，increase the proportion of non-fossil energy，and encourage the use of clean coal in order to build a clean， low-carbon， safe and efficient energy system. Second， to promote efficient resource use， strengthen management of obligatory targets， and manage in terms of both amount and intensity. Third， to adopt market measures in energy management by setting criteria on water， energy and land consumption and allow transactions in water rights and carbon permits.

Benefit for All

Many phrases in the proposal， such as“the general improvement of environment quality” and “centering on the improvement of environment quality”， are closely connected with the life of common people. Green development is designed to share the “green benefits” with all the people.

According to Yang Duogui， “to reach the goal of general improvement of environmental quality by 2020， we need to work hard for the building of ‘a(chǎn) beautiful China' in the following five years”. that means making more efforts to protect the environment，and invest more resources and strengthen governance capacity to protect forest， grassland， rivers， lakes， wetlands and the ocean.

Building “a beautiful China” will also bring benefits to the world. China's Belt and Road Initiative is a program to promote the welfare of humankind， sustainable development of the world and improvement of global governance system.

The proposal put forward the idea of“making new contributions to global ecological security”， showing that China is active in tackling climate change and living up to its responsibilities in protecting the global environment.