Expert Interpretation丨Accelerate the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development to promote the implementation of new concepts and practices of the Party’s governance and governance

Recently, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council issued the "On Accelerating the Comprehensive Economic and Social Affairs"Green transformationThe Opinions of the People's Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions") clarifies the various goals and tasks of accelerating the comprehensive green transformation of the economy and society. This is an important measure to implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Second and Third Plenary Sessions of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and is of great guiding significance for comprehensively promoting the construction of a beautiful China and accelerating the modernization of harmonious coexistence between man and nature.

1. Promoting green and low-carbon economic and social development is an important symbol of the new concepts and practices of the Party’s governance in the new era

The history of the development of human civilization is a history of the relationship between man and nature. Practice has proved that the extensive development model of high consumption, high emissions and high pollution is unsustainable. To build a modernization of harmonious coexistence between man and nature, it is necessary to handle the relationship between development and protection well. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core has taken ecological civilization construction as the fundamental plan related to the sustainable development of the Chinese nation, carried out a series of pioneering work, and made a series of major strategic deployments. my country's green and low-carbon development has achieved remarkable achievements in the world, becoming an important landmark achievement in the new concepts and new practices of the Party's governance in the new era. Since 2012, the annual growth rate of energy consumption of about 3% has supported the annual economic growth of more than 6%, and the decline rate of energy consumption per unit of GDP has ranked among the forefront of the world; hydropower, wind power, solar power generation,Biomass power generationThe installed capacity is firmly ranked first in the world, and the growth of forest resources is the largest and fastest in the world; the average concentration of inhalable particulate matter (PM2.5) in cities at the prefecture level and above in the country has dropped from 46 micrograms/cubic meter in 2015 to 30 micrograms/cubic meter in 2023, becoming the country with the fastest improvement in atmosphere quality in the world; green and low-carbon industries are booming, and exports of electric vehicles, lithium batteries, photovoltaic products, etc. are growing rapidly, which is becoming a new engine for my country's economic development and a new driving force for foreign trade development.

2. Accelerating the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development is of great support for promoting Chinese-style modernization

The current and future period is a critical period for comprehensively promoting the construction of a strong country and the great cause of national rejuvenation with Chinese modernization. Chinese-style modernization is a modernization in which man and nature coexist harmoniously, and green and low-carbon economic and social development are important characteristics of socialist modernization. Accelerating the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development is of great significance to my country's socialist modernization construction.

The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed that by 2035, we must achieve a steady decline in carbon emissions after peaking, a fundamental improvement in the ecological environment, and a basically completed goal of a beautiful China. For a long time, my country has adopted a model of end-of-term governance in resource and environmental protection. However, as the effectiveness of end-of-term governance continues to decrease, it is necessary to fully, accurately and comprehensively implement the new development concept, seek systematic solutions from the source and the entire process, and promote greening and low-carbon economic and social development. To this end, the "Opinions" proposes to focus on green and low-carbon transformation, upgrading and transformation in traditional industries, energy, transportation, urban and rural construction, consumption methods, and accelerate the formation of green production modes and lifestyles, which is conducive to gradually achieving high resource utilization efficiency, low pollution emissions and net zero carbon emissions, and helping socialist modernization construction.

At the same time, the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development will provide surging momentum for Chinese-style modernization construction. At present, my country's economic and social development is in a critical period of transformation of new and old kinetic energy, and it is necessary to cultivate and strengthen emerging industries and promote the rebalancing of production and consumption. Against this background, the "Opinions" proposes to integrate the requirements of green transformation into the overall economic and social development, which will give birth to new development opportunities and bring new market demand and space; the green productivity generated by green and low-carbon technological innovation is ready to go, and industries such as new energy, new materials, electric vehicles are booming, reshaping the global competitive landscape and establishing my country's new competitive advantages; emerging consumption models represented by green consumption, sharing economy, and ecological tourism are constantly developing, which will expand new consumption formats and models and promote economic growth.

3. Accelerate the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development and promote the modernization of harmonious coexistence between man and nature

The process of comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development cannot be characterized by only emission reduction scenario curves, but should be a comprehensively driven systematic action roadmap such as goals, technology, funds, and policies. Therefore, the "Opinions" put forward the overall requirements, main tasks, guarantee measures, etc. for green and low-carbon transformation, which is conducive to exploring new paths for ecological priority and green development and building a new model of development transformation. In order to speed up the implementation of the "Opinions", it is recommended to do the following aspects.

First, seize the opportunities of transformation and continue to promote innovative development oriented towards green and low-carbon. The "Opinions" deploy the main tasks of comprehensive green transformation from the perspectives of accelerating the green and low-carbon transformation of the industrial structure, steadily promoting the green and low-carbon transformation of energy, promoting the green transformation of transportation, promoting the green transformation of urban and rural construction development, promoting the green transformation of consumption models, and implementing a comprehensive conservation strategy. In this process, you may face challenges such as high cost and difficulty in phased transformation, but you must also fully realize that opportunities outweigh challenges. Therefore, we must deeply promote a new round of scientific and technological revolution, industrial revolution, energy revolution and consumption revolution characterized by green and intelligence, and seize the commanding heights of future competition.

Second, strengthen incentives and guarantees and build a policy system to promote green and low-carbon transformation. Green and low-carbon transformation-related projects have the characteristics of long investment cycles, low benefits, and uncertain risks. Therefore, long-term and stable transformation planning and policy intervention are needed to help the market and industry form stable expectations. In response to this issue, the "Opinions" have made arrangements in terms of finance and taxation, financing, investment, prices, marketization, standard systems, etc. In the future work process, we need to adhere to problem-oriented approach, accelerate the overall coordination, precise implementation and dynamic optimization of relevant policies, and effectively encourage all economic and social entities to carry out green and low-carbon economic activities.

Third, strengthen overall coordination and improve the systematic promotion mechanism for green and low-carbon transformation. Comprehensively integrating economic and social development into the green and low-carbon track requires interdisciplinary, cross-field and cross-regional solutions. For this reason, top-level design and systematic promotion are extremely important. The release of the "Opinions" marks the release of the programmatic document that comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development has been issued, but in the next step of work, we must pay more attention to the comprehensive coordination work in the implementation process. We must strengthen central coordination, establish and improve a comprehensive green transformation coordination mechanism, and do a good job in scientific evaluation and judgment of transformation and paths; we must strengthen comprehensive coordination, enhance the consistency orientation of green and social green transformation policies, and ensure that the relevant departments' green and low-carbon related policies play a role of "1+1>2".