By Lin Hong
Institute of Sociology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing
Very recently, China issued the Opinions on Accelerating the Comprehensive Green Transformation of Economic and Social Development proposing to achieve two goals. One is that by 2030 green production and lifestyle will be basically formed, and significant results will be achieved in the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development.
Another is that by 2035, a green, low-carbon, and circular development economic system will be basically established, green production and lifestyle will be nation-widely formed, significant progress will be made in reducing pollution and carbon emissions, and the efficiency of major resource utilization will reach the international advanced level. The two goals have set the basic roadmap for China’s ecological and environmental modernization in the next ten years.
Actually, the history of China's ecological and environmental protection as a kind of national practice could be traced back to the 1970s. From the Constitution of the People's Republic of China in 1978 confirmed that environmental protection is one of the state functions, to the constitutional amendment in 2018 which integrated the new development concept, ecological civilization and requirements of building a beautiful China; From the establishment of the Environmental Protection Leading Group of the State Council in 1974, to the re-organization of the Ministry of Ecology Environment in 2018; From the absence of environmental protection laws and regulations, to the formulation and trial implementation of the Environmental Protection Law in 1979, which was revised and officially promulgated in 1989, and then revised and adopted again in 2014, this version is known as the "strictest Environmental Protection Law in China’s history"; From the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement, to the goal of carbon peak by 2030 and carbon neutralization by 2060, China has proposed national contribution objectives and formulated clear and reliable action plans to implement its commitment to global ecological and environmental protection, and has also explored a road to ecological civilization in line with its own national conditions. This process can be understood from three aspects: thought, system and action.
First of all, the process of China's ecology and environment governance is an evolution process of China’s ecological civilization thought. Since 1949, China's environmental governance system has experienced many major strategic transformations, from the initial exploration of early industrial pollution prevention and control, the "prevention first and combination of prevention and control" in the 1980s, the "equal emphasis on pollution prevention and ecological protection" in the 1990s, to the "protection in development and development in protection" after entering the 21st century, and then to the "adherence to ecological priority" since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China's environmental governance system has realized the cognitive evolution from the view of "pollution prevention" to "ecological civilization". From environmental protection as a basic national policy, sustainable development strategy, "two oriented society" to the proposal of ecological civilization, the Communist Party of China and the Chinese government have formed a green modernization concept with gradually systematized theoretical framework and increasingly clear meaning of ecological environmentalism, and the "socialist modernization of harmonious coexistence between man and nature" in the context of the country’s ecological civilization construction is the most concise expression of this thought.
Secondly, the process of China's ecology and environment governance is also the institutionalized construction process of China's ecological civilization. China's environmental protection started in the 1970s, and its institutionalization process can be roughly divided into four stages. The first stage was from 1973 to 1993. In this stage, China's environmental protection was gradually put on the track of legalization by continuously system construction and carrying out pollution control in key areas; the second stage was from 1994 to 2004. In the early 1990s, China entered the first round of heavy chemical industry era, the process of urbanization accelerated, and the environmental pollution with structural, compound and compressive characteristics began to take shape, making this stage an important period for law enforcement, comprehensive pollution control and ecology protection; In the third stage, from 2005 to 2012, the State Council issued the Decision on Implementing the Scientific Outlook on Development and Strengthening Environmental Protection in 2005, which established the guiding ideology of people-oriented and environmental protection for the people, and became a programmatic document guiding the coordinated development of China's economy, society and environment at this stage; The fourth stage is from 2013 to now. The focus of this stage is system reform and overall transformation. With the Chinese public awareness rising of ecological and environmental protection, the subjective perception of ecological and environmental quality has become an important element for the Chinese people to define a better life. The Decision on Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening Reform adopted at the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee further raised the construction of ecological civilization to the institutional level and made it clearer that to protect the ecology and environment by system. With continuous reform, the ecological and environmental protection system with Chinese characteristics has gradually moved towards modernization, which has laid a solid foundation for realizing the goal of "a new pattern of modernization with the harmonious development of man and nature".
Thirdly, the process of China's ecology and environment governance is also a process of action construction of China's ecological civilization. Since the CPC’s 18th National Congress, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee, party committees and governments at all levels across the country have strengthened ecological environment protection with unprecedented determination and strength. With the increasing efforts, China's ecological and environmental quality has continued to improve, the total emission of major pollutants and carbon dioxide emission per unit of GDP have gradually decreased, and the ranking in the International Ecological Civilization Development Index has increased significantly. From the central government to local governments, from environmental elements such as air, water and soil to ecosystem, governments, markets and social subjects at all levels implement and deepen the concept of China's ecological civilization by promoting and participating in actions at different levels and types, such as blue sky defense battle, clean water defense battle, pure land defense battle, large scale ecological protection and restoration projects, and co-construction of regional ecological civilization.
China’s economic and social development is scheduled to fully enter the green and low-carbon track, and carbon emissions will steadily decrease after reaching peak by 2035. Currently, China is undergoing a profound transformation in its development philosophy characterized by a green development model and a green transformation in lifestyle. In order to deal with the ecological and environmental risks and their derived social risks, China tries to build a new approach to modernization based on harmonious development between man and nature. From top-level design to local practice, from national policies to individual actions, China actively welcomes all kinds of urgent and necessary changes to accelerate the transformation to a fairer, more environmentally sustainable economy and a healthier society, and consolidates the present and future well-being and prosperity of all countries and their people through top-down policy guidance and bottom-up initiatives.
* Lin Hong, Institute of Sociology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing.
** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL or Independent Media.