During a press conference summarizing China’s ecological progress on September 15, Minister of Ecology and Environment Huang Runqiu said that the past 10 years witnessed China’s toughest measures and most extraordinary progress regarding China’s ecology and environment.
In 2013, by implementing the Action Plan on the Prevention of Air Pollution, China became the first developing country to curb PM2.5 pollution on a massive scale. In March 2018, the “ecological civilization” concept was written into the national Constitution. The Ministry of Ecology and Environment and the Ministry of Natural Resources were established to take charge of China’s environmental governance and ecological protection efforts.
The average concentration of PM2.5 in cities at the prefecture level and above decreased by 34.8 percent from 2015 to 2021. The number of days with heavy pollution reduced by 53.6 percent in the same time frame. In 2021, China’s coal use plunged to around 56 percent of its total energy consumption, and the share of clean energy in its energy mix rose to 25.5 percent. The installed and generation capacities of wind and photovoltaic power in China ranked first globally in 2021, as well as its production and sales of new-energy vehicles.
A decade ago, China’s environmental situation was worrying. The country’s soaring economy and urban expansion took a heavy toll on its environment. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the central government, under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, has taken significant measures to press ahead with the ecological civilization program, and supporting green development nationwide.
While managing its own ecological environment, China implements the Convention on Biological Diversity and its protocols, providing support and assistance for other developing countries to reinforce their environmental and biodiversity protection capabilities through the multilateral cooperation mechanism under the Belt and Road Initiative and boosting South-South cooperation. By the end of 2020, China had signed about 150 cooperation documents for environmental protections with more than 60 countries and international and regional organizations, as well as signed or joined more than 50 international conventions and protocols related to the ecological environment.
The Earth is the only place where all people call it home, and building a green home is a shared goal of nations.
