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1. School of Economics, Central South University of Forestry and Technology, Changsha 410004,China; 2. Management School, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, China

AbstractIn May 2014, Chairman Xi Jinping mentioned the "new normal" for the first time during his inspection of Henan, and proposed that China’s development is still in an important period of strategic opportunity. It was advocated to promote the transformation and development of China’s green economy and to go out an ecological path of green innovation, green production and green consumption. This paper mainly explains the current situation, problems, corresponding countermeasures and suggestions of the transformation and development of China’s green economy under the new normal to let readers understand the necessity of the transformation and development of China’s green economy.

Key wordsNew normal, Green economy, Transformation and development

1 Introduction

China’s economy is showing a new normal, shifting from high-speed growth to middle-high-speed growth and optimizing and upgrading the economic structure (shifting from factor driving and investment driving to innovation driving). At the same time, China is also among the ranks of middle-income countries. Since 2001, China had entered the ranks of lower-middle-income countries with a per capita GDP of 1 053 U.S. dollars; and since 2010, Chin has entered the ranks of middle-upper-income countries with a per capita GDP of 4 662 U.S. dollars. In accordance with international standards, China needs to get rid of middle-income trap and enter the ranks of high-income countries, which will take eight years of hard work[1]. This requires China to transform its existing economic development methods, vigorously introduce, innovate and develop high technology, and formulate and implement relevant laws and regulations to ensure the healthy development of green economy. At the same time, people’s awareness of green consumption needs to be enhanced to promote the greenization of economic development, thus achieving the organic unity of economic benefits, ecological benefits and social benefits[2].

At present, all countries in the world are advocating the use of green DGP to measure the economic development of a country. Based on the understanding of the status quo of China’s green economy development in recent years, the problems in the development were further studied and analyzed, and corresponding solutions were proposed in this article.

2 The status quo of the transformation and development of China’s green economy

In order to further understand the current status of China’s green economy transformation and development, decoupling coefficient was used to analyze the relationships between China’s economic development and energy and environmental pollution from 2010 to 2016.

2.1 Analysis of the decoupling between China’s economic development and energy consumption

In the decoupling analysis of China’s economic development and energy consumption, the annual GDP of 2010-2016 was used as an indicator of economic development, and the total energy consumption of 2010-2016 was used as an indicator of energy consumption. According to the formulaDIt=ΔPt/ΔYt, the decoupling coefficient between China’s gross domestic product and total energy consumption was calculated (Fig.1).

Fig.1 Dynamic of decoupling coefficient between China’s GDP and total energy consumption2.2 Analysis of the decoupling between economic development and environmental pollution in China

In the decoupling analysis between China’s economic development and environmental pollution, the annual GDP of 2010-2016 was used an indicator of economic development, and the chemical oxygen demand emissions and sulfur dioxide emissions from 2010 to 2016 were used as environmental indicators. According to the formulaDIt=ΔPt/ΔYt, the decoupling coefficients between China’s GDP and sulfur dioxide and chemical oxygen demand emissions were calculated. As shown in Fig.2, the decoupling relationship between China’s GDP and sulfur dioxide emissions can be divided into two stages. In the first stage (2011), the decoupling coefficient was 0.08, and the two were relatively decoupled, indicating that the negative effect of China’s economic development on air quality is relatively small; and in the second stage (2012-2016), the decoupling coefficient was all negative and the two were absolutely decoupled, indicating that China’s economic development had almost no impact on air quality. The decoupling relationship between China’s GDP and chemical oxygen demand emissions was roughly divided into two stages. In the first stage (2011), the decoupling coefficient was 5.52, indicating the existence of coupling relationship. Greater decoupling coefficient showed that China’s economic development was based on the emission of larger amounts of chemical oxygen demand,i.e., the economic development of China had caused the destruction of the environment. In the second stage (2012-2016), the decoupling coefficient was all negative, and the two were absolutely decoupled, suggesting that China’s economic development had almost no impact on air quality.

Fig.2 Dynamics of decoupling coefficients between China’s GDP and sulfur dioxide and chemical oxygen demand emissions

3 Problems in the transformation and development of China’s green economy under the new normal

China’s new normal is different from the relatively stable state in the past more than 30 years. China’s economy has entered a new phase of rapid growth[3]. Different from the national conditions of western developed countries, China has many people, has a weak foundation, and consumes a lot of resources. It is facing complex challenges and problems such as optimizing and adjusting the economic structure and developing driving innovation.

3.1 Lack of institutional mechanisms

At present, in order to achieve the GDP growth targets given by the higher authorities, some western regions of China have blindly introduced a series of high-pollution, high-energy-consuming and high-emission enterprises, lacking awareness and concepts of green economic development. Simultaneously, the reason for this behavior is that the higher authorities have not established or improved the mechanism for the transformation and development of green economy or the high authorities have not implemented the series of local green economy transformation policies. In addition, China has not established a sound environmental compensation mechanism, and environmental cost caused by the exploitation of resources has not been combined with the pricing of market mechanisms for cost accounting. As a result, the interests of ecologically fragile areas or resource-rich areas are impaired[4-5], hindering the economic development of the region. It is not conducive to the promotion and practice of the concept of green consumption.

3.2 International environmental constraints

With the development of economic globalization, as China surpassed Japan as the second largest economy in the world in 2010, China has been suffering a strong international and domestic pressure as a developing country. For example, China will be subject to pressure from the international community’s green trade barriers, international environmental compliance and cross-border environmental disputes. They will lead the global green system in a more subtle way and increase the pressure on the majority of emerging market economies, thereby reducing China’s green economy discourse[6]. In addition, with the rapid development of China’s economy, the impact of the "China threat theory" has gradually increased, making China more difficult to survive in the international social environment.

3.3 Resource and energy bottlenecks

Since the reform and opening up, although China’s economic development has been ranked second in just over 30 years, many problems have also emerged. According to the report of the US News and World Report, in 2014, China’s total GDP accounted for 12% of the world’s total GDP, but the energy consumption accounted for 18% of the world’s energy consumption, of which steel consumption accounted for 44% and cement consumption accounted for 53%. The huge resource consumption and the environmental impact it brings are not conducive to China’s long-term sustainable development. According to forecast, China’s vehicle ownership will exceed 200 million by 2020, which will require about 5 billion tons of standard coal. Therefore, environmental pollution and resource and energy bottlenecks will be one of the major constraints to China’s economic transformation and development[7].

3.4 Unreasonable industrial structure

Although China is a large agricultural country, the share of agriculture in GDP and its contribution rate are gradually declining. The production of agriculture has not yet reached the level of modernization, mechanization, and informationization as developed countries in the West. On the one hand, China’s investment ratio in the agricultural industry is too low. On the other hand, China’s science and technology have not yet been fully applied to agricultural production. In addition, China’s industry is mainly composed of energy-intensive and high-emission heavy industries, resource processing industries, shipbuilding and iron and steel metallurgy. Although China proposed a structural reform on the supply side in 2016 and some improvements have been made in terms of capacity reduction and destocking,etc., the real establishment of a reasonable and effective industrial structure requires a long period of hard work and persistence.

Through analyzing the problems in the transformation and development of the green economy in China, it can be seen that China has not given space to the green economy development at the institutional level, and it is subject to the pressure from the international community and the constraints of resources and energy. The key is that China’s industrial structure has not been effectively adjusted[8].

4 Countermeasures and suggestions for the transformation of China’s green economy under the new normal

In the report ofEnvironmentalSustainabilityIndexmade in Davos in 2005, China ranked 133rd in the world, and only 144 countries or regions participated in the ranking. Faced with the problems and challenges China has encountered in the process of transforming the economic development methods, the following aspects can be improved.

4.1 Improving the green economy policy system

In the report of the 18th CPC National Congress, the five-in-one development strategy was clearly put forward for the first time, that is, to achieve the common development of economy, politics, culture, society and ecological civilization. Among them, the construction of ecological civilization is of utmost importance, because all human activities must be based on the concept of ecological civilization that respects nature, conforms to nature, and protects nature, only through which can people embark on the path of sustainable development. To achieve the transformation and development of China’s green economy, it is necessary for the state to strengthen the constraints and guarantees of the legal system in terms of legislation, law enforcement and compliance with the law, such as speeding up the improvement of resource conservation and environmental protection supporting laws, coordinating and handling the legal relationship related to green economy, accelerating the greening of fiscal, financial and other laws, and reforming the pricing mechanism of related resources. Through the establishment and improvement of a series of green policies, institutional guarantees will be provided for the transformation and development of China’s green economy.

4.2 Strengthening green technology research and innovation

Science and technology are primary productive forces. The green and innovative science and technology is a necessary condition for the transformation and development of the national green economy. Only by strengthening the research and innovation of green technologies can we get rid of the lock-in effect of technological backwardness and better play the role of green technology in the development of green economy. In order to strengthen the research and innovation of green science and technology, first of all, the state needs to formulate and implement policy measures to promote technological innovation,e.g., modifying and perfecting the existing tax relief and patent protection policies; second, the state needs to increase investment in green science and technology innovation to reduce the lack of R&D funding for some small and medium-sized enterprises; and the most important is the cultivation of relevant talents and the effective transformation and popularization of scientific and technological achievements. Talents are the main body of innovation. It needs to establish an effective incentive mechanism to fully mobilize their enthusiasm. In addition, corresponding system guarantee is needed.

4.3 Promoting international cooperation in green economy

China put forward the Silk Road in 2015. Under its assistance, China and many countries have formed a relatively tight silk economic belt, realizing the concept of international strategic cooperation for global shared development. In the 21st century of global integration, international green economic cooperation should be expanded and deepened. Because many countries are at different stages of development, developed countries have the obligation and responsibility to provide green technology R&D funds and R&D capability support to developing and underdeveloped countries to enhance their green technology level. It is forbidden to set various green barriers with protecting the environment as an excuse or under the guise of the green standard to hinder their economic development. We have only one Earth. The protection of the ecological environment of the Earth is the responsibility and obligation of everyone on Earth. Every country should lay down its immediate interests and work together to create a united atmosphere.

4.4 Optimizing the green industry energy structure

Green industry is a concrete manifestation of the development of green economy, and the development of green economy is achieved and constructed through green industries. China began to develop green industries from the late 1970s. To develop a green industry, it is necessary to establish and improve relevant fiscal and taxation preferential policies and constantly optimize the market environment for the development of green industries. In addition, the investment in green industries should be increased to enhance the market competitiveness of green products. In the process of industrialization, China faces both the problems of industrial restructuring and resource constraints. Therefore, the traditional development way of relying on energy needs to be changed, more environmentally friendly, green and clean energy sources needs to be developed, the energy development layout needs to be continuously optimized, the construction of energy transmission pipelines needs to be strengthened, and the proportion of renewable energy needs to be increased to strive to achieve the target of non-fossil energy’s accounting for less than 15% in primary energy consumption by 2020.