Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, January 2nd Title: Promote the continuous improvement of ecological environment quality — — Huang Runqiu, Minister of Ecology and Environment, talks about the starting point of environmental protection in the 14 th Five-Year Plan
Xinhua News Agency reporter Gao Jing
The curtain of the 14th Five-Year Plan has been opened. In the next five years, where is the focus of China’s ecological environmental protection work? Peak carbon dioxide emissions, how to promote carbon neutrality? Xinhua News Agency interviewed Huang Runqiu, Minister of Ecology and Environment.
"Blue sky and white clouds have become frequent visitors to the circle of friends to take photos"
Reporter: 2020 is the closing year of the Thirteenth Five-Year Plan. What kind of report card has China’s ecological environmental protection handed over?
Huang Runqiu: Generally speaking, the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" is the five years that have achieved the greatest improvement in ecological environment quality and the best development of ecological environment protection. The people’s sense of acquisition, happiness and security have been significantly enhanced, and the ecological environment goal of building a well-off society in an all-round way has been completed on schedule with high quality.
The nine binding indicators of ecological environmental protection and the phased objectives and tasks of pollution prevention and control determined in the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" have been fully overfulfilled. The three major defense battles of blue sky, clear water and pure land have achieved remarkable results.
The improvement of air quality is obvious to all, and the blue sky and white clouds have become frequent visitors to the circle of friends. By the end of December 2020, the proportion of excellent days in cities at or above the prefecture level in China was 87%, which was 2.5 percentage points higher than the target of the 13th Five-Year Plan. This is not easy.
So far, there has been no heavily polluted weather in Beijing this autumn and winter, and it has ushered in excellent days for more than 40 days in a row, which is called "Beijing Blue". This is the first time since PM2.5 was recorded in Beijing, which fully reflects the effectiveness of the battle against pollution.
The proportion of black and odorous water bodies in cities at prefecture level and above in China has reached 98.2%, and the "smelly ditches" and "black ponds" in cities have basically disappeared; For the first time, the Yangtze River basin has achieved "zero clearing" of water bodies inferior to Grade V, and the main stream has achieved Grade II and above water quality for the first time.
Positive progress has been made in tackling climate change, and we have successfully completed our foreign commitment to reduce the intensity of carbon dioxide emissions by 45% by 2020 compared with 2005.
The preparation of the action plan for carbon emission peak has been started.
Reporter: The Central Economic Work Conference proposed to do a good job in peak carbon dioxide emissions and carbon neutrality. What is the progress of the timetable and roadmap of China’s action plan for carbon emission peaking before 2030?
Huang Runqiu: The CPC Central Committee with the Supreme Leader as the core attaches great importance to the work of tackling climate change. At the general debate of the 75th United Nations General Assembly and the Climate Ambition Summit, the Chairman of the Supreme Leader solemnly announced a series of medium and long-term goals and visions of peak carbon dioxide emissions and carbon neutrality in China. The Central Economic Work Conference put forward clear requirements for peak carbon dioxide emissions and carbon neutrality. This has clearly defined the goal, pointed out the direction and injected a strong impetus for China to cope with climate change and take the road of green and low-carbon development.
At present, we have started the preparation of the action plan for carbon emission peak before 2030, and will further accelerate the pace and continue to promote the green and low-carbon transformation of the whole society during the 14 th Five-Year Plan and the 15 th Five-Year Plan.
First of all, we will make clear the objectives, compact the responsibilities, strictly supervise, make clear the goals and implementation plans of local and industry peaks, and be positive and powerful, and encourage qualified places to take the lead in reaching the peak.
Secondly, more effective measures will be taken to control the consumption of fossil energy, vigorously develop non-fossil energy and accelerate the development of renewable energy; We will comprehensively promote green and low-carbon actions in key areas, vigorously develop low-carbon transportation, actively develop green buildings, promote green and low-carbon technological innovation, and promote green and low-carbon production and lifestyle.
In addition, we will further accelerate the construction of the national carbon emission trading market, gradually expand the coverage of industries, enrich the trading varieties and methods, and realize the stable and effective operation and healthy and sustainable development of the national carbon market.
Since 2011, we have carried out carbon emission trading pilot projects in seven places, covering nearly 3,000 key emission units in more than 20 industries, including electricity, steel and cement, which has accumulated valuable experience for the construction of the national carbon market.
In the near future, we will take the power generation industry as the first batch to carry out carbon emission quota allocation and start the first performance cycle of the national carbon market.
Innovating ideas to realize the synergistic effect of reducing pollution and carbon
Reporter: The Central Economic Work Conference proposed that we should continue to fight the tough battle of pollution prevention and control and realize the synergistic effect of pollution reduction and carbon reduction. What is the synergy between pollution reduction and carbon reduction?
Huang Runqiu: In improving environmental quality, carbon reduction and pollution reduction can have a good synergistic effect. China’s energy structure is dominated by high-carbon fossil energy. Fossil energy combustion is not only the main source of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, but also the main source of atmospheric pollutants, such as particulate matter, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. It can be said that the emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and air pollutants have the characteristics of the same root, homology and process. Adjusting the energy structure and industrial structure can not only reduce carbon emissions, but also reduce pollutant emissions from the root causes.
We have accumulated a lot of work experience in jointly promoting pollution reduction and carbon reduction. According to the evaluation of relevant institutions, from 2013 to 2017, by reducing the excess capacity of steel, cement and other industries, the emission of atmospheric pollutants was greatly reduced, and at the same time, the carbon dioxide emission was reduced by about 737 million tons.
In the next step, we will further innovate our thinking and play, and make overall plans to push forward the fight against pollution and the action of peaking carbon dioxide emissions.
In the top-level design, while planning to fight the tough battle of pollution prevention and control, we should work hard to formulate the action plan of carbon emission peak before 2030, highlight carbon reduction as the "bull nose" of source governance, and make overall plans for a number of key tasks and major projects to promote the green and low-carbon transformation and development of economy, energy and industry.
At the same time, it is necessary to focus on key areas and industries and strengthen source governance, system governance and overall governance. Accelerate the transformation and upgrading of industrial structure and strictly control the construction of projects with high energy consumption and high emissions. To build a clean and low-carbon energy system, we should take developing non-fossil energy and reducing fossil energy consumption as the fundamental solution. Strengthen the optimization and adjustment of transportation structure, and promote rail transit, water transit and multimodal transport. Select typical areas and cities to carry out the "double achievement" pilot demonstration of environmental quality reaching the standard and carbon emission reaching the peak.
In addition, it is necessary to strengthen the overall planning of work, unify the formulation of policy planning standards, unified monitoring and evaluation, unified supervision and law enforcement, and unified supervision and accountability, so as to provide support for achieving the synergistic effect of pollution reduction and carbon reduction.
Exploring new ideas to fight the tough battle of pollution prevention and control in depth
Reporter: The "Proposal" of the "14 th Five-Year Plan" puts forward that it is necessary to fight a tough battle against pollution in depth. In the next five years, how will the battle against pollution be "in-depth"?
Huang Runqiu: During the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" period, a good answer sheet was delivered in the battle against pollution. However, we must clearly realize that China’s ecological environment protection still has a long way to go, and the turning point of ecological environment quality from quantitative change to qualitative change has not yet arrived.
In the next step, we will pay close attention to the research and put forward the top-level design to fight the tough battle of pollution prevention and control, continuously improve the quality of the ecological environment, and continuously enhance the people’s sense of ecological environment acquisition, happiness and security.
I believe that "going deep" has two meanings: first, the contradictions and problems touched are deeper and wider, and the requirements for improving the ecological environment are higher. The tough battle should be extended in depth and breadth; Second, we must persist in the same direction and strength, and innovate and explore new ideas and measures to fight hard.
First, we must further strengthen source governance, system governance and overall governance. We must persist in promoting the adjustment of industrial structure, energy structure, transportation structure and agricultural structure with high-level protection of ecological environment, and pay more attention to source prevention and source management. It is necessary to proceed from the integrity of the ecosystem and the systematicness of the river basin, trace the source and systematically treat it, strengthen collaborative linkage, strengthen the collaborative management of various ecological elements such as landscapes, forests, fields, lakes and grasses, and enhance the relevance and coupling of various initiatives.
Second, we must pay more attention to precise pollution control, scientific pollution control and pollution control according to law. Scientific pollution control should effectively improve the pertinence and effectiveness of governance measures. To accurately control pollution, we must achieve "five precisions" in terms of problems, time, location, objects and measures. To control pollution according to law, we must adhere to administration, governance and protection according to law.
Third, we should push forward the tough battle of pollution prevention and control to achieve new breakthroughs in key areas and key indicators. The general idea is to "lift gas, reduce carbon, strengthen ecology, increase water, consolidate soil and prevent risks".
"gas lifting" is based on the coordinated control of PM2.5 and ozone, further reducing the concentration of PM2.5 and ozone and improving air quality.
To "reduce carbon", it is necessary to formulate an action plan for peaking carbon dioxide emissions and support qualified places to take the lead in peaking.
To "strengthen ecology", it is necessary to coordinate the restoration and management of the landscape, forest, field, lake and grass system, strengthen ecological supervision, and resolutely hold the natural ecological security boundary.
"Increasing water" means coordinating water resources, water ecology and water environment management, continuing to increase good water, increasing ecological water and enhancing water ecology.
"Soil consolidation" is to continuously implement the soil pollution prevention and control action plan with the focus on the safe use of soil, strengthening the supervision, utilization and disposal of hazardous waste.
"Risk prevention" should focus on nuclear and radiation safety, "one waste, one library, one product" (hazardous waste, tailings pond, chemicals) and other fields to effectively prevent and resolve ecological and environmental risks.
In addition, it is necessary to promote the modernization of the ecological environment governance system and governance capacity, form a "big environmental protection" pattern, and realize the historic transformation from "I want environmental protection" to "I want environmental protection".