The 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) concluded its fifth plenary session in Beijing on October 29th with the release of a Communique. The plenary session heard and discussed a work report delivered by Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, on behalf of the Political Bureau/Politburo of the CPC Central Committee.
The session adopted the CPC Central Committee’s proposals to formulate the 14th Five-Year Plan (FYP, 2021-2025) for National Economic and Social Development, the Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035, and outlined 12 initiatives ahead. The draft document was explained by Xi to the plenary session. The following is a list of all environment-related content in the Communique:
- The CPC raised a set of long-range objectives for China to achieve socialist modernization by 2035, including: broadly operating the eco-friendly ways of work and life, experiencing a gradual decline of carbon emission after its peak in 2030, achieving a substantial reversal of ecological environment, and largely fulfilling the goals of a “Beautiful China”.
- Six new targets to be hit during the 14th FYP (2021-2025) period, including new progress achieved for an “Ecological Civilization”. The specific goals are for the development and protection of the nation’s geospace to be optimized, an apparent shift towards eco-friendly life and work styles, energy utilization efficiency, a consistent decline of significant pollutant emissions, and a more robust and resilient ecological security shelter.
- A dozen initiatives going ahead were listed, including: advancing green development and progressing the co-existence between human and nature, adherence to the “two mountain theories”, i.e. prioritizing the protection and restoration of nature and safeguarding the ecological security boundary, advancing a sustainable development strategy, improving the coordination mechanism across various Ecological Civilization sectors, building an Ecological Civilization system, and pushing the all-front green transfer of economic and social development.
Photo Credit: GIZ
