China Environment News:

At the opening of the 20th CPC National Congress, when reviewing the past five years' work and the significant changes in the first decade of the new era, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that China's ecological conservation systems have been improved. In recent years, China has established and implemented a series of systems, such as environmental inspections led by the central government, assessment and accountability systems for ecological conservation, and accountability systems for environmental damage. Ecological and environmental protection systems are being reformed with unprecedented intensity. Could you please brief us on the overall situation of the reform of systems, what progress has been made, and what the plans are for the next step?

Zhai Qing:

Thanks for your questions. Adhering to the strictest system and the strictest rule of law to protect the ecological environment is the core principle of Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that the development of ecological civilization should focus on institutional building, and environmental protection must rely on institutions and the rule of law.

Since the 18th CPC National Congress, under the sound guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization and Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law, the development of the rule of law in China's ecology and environment has achieved remarkable results. Ecological civilization has been included in the Party Constitution and the Constitution, and 25 ecological and environmental laws covering the prevention and control of air, water, soil, solid waste, noise pollution, and the protection of the Yangtze River and wetlands have been formulated and revised. The two very important documents, the guidelines on accelerating ecological advancement and the integrated reform plan for promoting ecological progress, have been promulgated to establish a series of innovative systems. Therefore, the general system of ecological civilization, like the beams and pillars of a house, is now in place. Specifically, there are several features.

First, the regulation system has become stricter and sounder. Over the past decade, a series of major systems have been continuously established and improved, such as systems for environmental inspections led by the central government, red lines for ecological conservation, national parks, region-specific approaches to environmental management, river and lake chiefs, forest chiefs, emissions permit, the centralizing of environmental quality monitoring powers to the central government, the complete prohibition of the import of foreign garbage, the carbon emissions rights trading, upgraded pollutant treatments, and the management of sewage outfalls into rivers and seas and the like. These measures have provided crucial institutional support for ecological conservation and environmental protection.

Second, accountability systems have achieved historic breakthroughs. In terms of ecological conservation and environmental protection, we have constantly improved accountability systems to ensure that both Party committees and governments are held accountable and that officials take responsibility for environmental protection in performing their duties. A list of responsibilities has been issued to relevant departments. We have also required that the management of development, production and industry must be in line with environmental protection. Responsibility systems have also been improved for lifelong accountability for ecological environment damage, audit of natural resource assets at the end of the tenure of leading officials, evaluation and assessment, performance in advancing ecological progress, ecological compensation, and compensation for ecological environment damage. Concerning ecological environment monitoring, we have implemented responsibility systems for assessors and data providers to ensure assessment accuracy and data validity. Moreover, responsibility systems for legal disclosure of eco-credit records for enterprises, among other fields, have also been advanced. Thanks to such measures, a responsibility system led by the Party committees, guided by the government, with enterprises as the main actors, and with the participation of social organizations and the public has taken shape. In this regard, this kind of strict responsibility is unprecedented.

Third, we have further integrated and optimized the functions of departments. At the national level, the MEE has been established to integrate the responsibilities of ecological and environmental protection scattered in various relevant departments and to unify the supervision and law enforcement responsibilities of emissions of environmental pollutants in urban and rural areas. Five links between above and below the ground, onshore and offshore, terrestrial and marine ecology, urban and rural areas, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide have been built up. At the same time, the "four unifications" have been achieved: unified policy planning and standards-setting, unified monitoring and evaluation, unified supervision and law enforcement, and unified inspection and accountability. At the local authority level, institutional reforms have also made positive progress.

In the next step, we will fully implement the spirit of the 20th CPC National Congress, continuing to deepen efforts to reform institutions and mechanisms and insisting on promoting the law-based and institutionalized construction of ecological civilization and environmental protection. We will strive to transform institutional strengths into governance efficacy, in a bid to modernize the ecological environment governance system and the governance capacity at an accelerated pace. Thank you!