Lin Zhen: Guiding the Joint Writing of a New Chapter in Global Ecological Civilization Construction
Jointly charting the course for global ecological civilization and building a community of life for man and nature and a community of life for the Earth are essential components of Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization. These efforts demonstrate General Secretary Xi Jinping’s noble concern for the future of humanity and his global vision. Among the 79 works included in the first volume of the Selected Works of Xi Jinping on Ecological Civilization, published in July of this year, several discuss these themes. They profoundly reflect General Secretary Xi’s deep contemplation and historical sense of responsibility as the leader of a major party and a major country toward global ecological civilization, providing scientific guidance for building international consensus and writing a new chapter in global ecological construction. In studying the first volume of this collection, we can appreciate the significant contributions of Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization to global ecological governance through the following five dimensions.
Contributing Ecological Wisdom Based on the "Unity of Humanity and Nature"
In a certain sense, the history of human development is a history of the relationship between humanity and nature. While industrial civilization created unprecedented material wealth, it also brought heavy consequences: severe environmental pollution and ecosystem degradation. The direct causes of the global ecological crisis are the disorderly exploitation and brutal plunder of natural resources, alongside the unregulated discharge of waste. Its deep-seated ideological root, however, lies in a deviation and misunderstanding of the relationship between humanity and nature—specifically the advocacy of conquering and controlling nature.
Chinese civilization has always respected nature and advocated for the "unity of humanity and nature" [1]. Rooted in the fertile soil of Chinese culture and based on the objective realities of the human modernization process, Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization creatively integrated the persistence of harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature into the Basic Policy for upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics in the New Era. It clarifies that Chinese-path modernization is a modernization of harmony between humanity and nature, emphasizing that humanity and nature form a community of life. Endless extraction from nature, or its destruction, will inevitably result in nature's retribution. The proposal of harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature is a major achievement of the "Two Combinations" [2]. It both inherits and innovates upon the Marxist views of nature and ecology, while carrying forward and developing the excellent traditional Chinese ecological culture marked by the "unity of humanity and nature," thereby contributing Chinese wisdom to global ecological civilization.
Since the 18th CPC National Congress, President Xi Jinping has explained the concept of the unity of humanity and nature on many important multilateral occasions for global environmental governance. The first volume of the Selected Works contains several relevant pieces. In "Jointly Promoting the Construction of a Global Ecological Civilization and Striving to Build a Clean and Beautiful World," President Xi proposed: "Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets. We should follow the concepts of the unity of humanity and nature and 'the Way follows nature' [3] to seek a path of sustainable development." In "Jointly Promoting Green Living and Building a Beautiful Home," he noted: "The beautiful land of China is the home upon which the Chinese nation depends for survival and development; it has nurtured the splendid civilization of the Chinese nation for over 5,000 years and shaped the noble pursuit of the unity of humanity and nature." In "Jointly Building a Community of Life for Man and Nature," he emphasized: "Chinese civilization has always advocated the unity of humanity and nature and following the Way of nature, pursuing harmonious coexistence." Compared to the definition of sustainable development widely accepted by the international community—development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs—the concept of the unity of humanity and nature reflects the essence of the relationship between humanity and nature more intuitively and profoundly. This concept carries Taoist thoughts such as "Man follows the Earth, the Earth follows Heaven, Heaven follows the Way, and the Way follows nature" and "Heaven and Earth coexist with me, and all things are one with me." It also contains the Confucian view of nature where "all things flourish in harmony and grow with nourishment" [4] and the ecological ethics of "harmony is precious" between humanity and nature. The concept of the unity of humanity and nature condenses the essence of excellent traditional Chinese ecological culture. Through creative transformation and innovative development in the New Era, its application to global environmental governance will surely provide new ideas for global ecological construction.
Drawing a Grand Vision for a Clean and Beautiful World
Facing the complex, volatile, and intensifying global ecological crisis, the question of where human society is headed has become a mandatory question for the world to answer. In "Jointly Promoting the Construction of a Global Ecological Civilization and Striving to Build a Clean and Beautiful World," General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed: "We must strive to build a world of clear waters, green mountains, cleanliness, and beauty" and "We should jointly care for our Earth home, for ourselves and for future generations." Starting from the historical heights of building a community with a shared future for humanity and the sustainable development of humankind, Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization proposes the construction of a global ecological civilization and draws a new vision for a clean and beautiful world, making a Chinese contribution to addressing the global ecological crisis.
From the perspective of theoretical development, "clean" in "clean and beautiful world" originates from the concept of "clean production." In June 1992, while people were struggling to solve pollution generated during production, the UN Conference on Environment and Development in Brazil provided a remedy: clean production. This model aimed to replace products and raw materials harmful to the environment to achieve sustainable industrial development. In June 2002, China enacted the Clean Production Promotion Law of the People's Republic of China, defining clean production as the continuous application of measures—such as improving design, using clean energy and raw materials, adopting advanced technology and equipment, improving management, and comprehensive utilization—to reduce pollution at its source, improve resource efficiency, and reduce or avoid emissions during production and product use to mitigate harm to human health and the environment. During his tenure in Zhejiang, Comrade Xi Jinping proposed using "Green Zhejiang" to initiate the province's ecological development, listing ecological industry and clean production as key projects. Since the New Era, General Secretary Xi Jinping has made a series of important expositions on developing clean energy, proposing to "nurture and expand energy conservation and environmental protection industries, clean production industries, and clean energy industries," further enriching the theoretical connotation of "clean."
A "beautiful world" is the theoretical extension of a "Beautiful China" characterized by blue skies, green land, and clear water. On January 18, 2017, President Xi Jinping delivered a keynote speech at the United Nations Office at Geneva titled "Work Together to Build a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind," stating: "The key to building a community with a shared future for humanity lies in action," and "The international community should make efforts in areas such as partnership, security, economic development, cultural exchange, and ecological construction." Regarding ecological construction, this meant "persisting in green and low-carbon development and building a clean and beautiful world." Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization creatively combines "clean" and "beautiful," revealing their close relationship. Cleanliness is an important prerequisite for beauty; only by using clean energy and conducting clean production can we effectively reduce waste and emissions, creating the basic conditions for improving the environment. Beauty is the directional goal of cleanliness; the use of clean energy is not merely an economic consideration, but is aimed at transforming the ecosystem from an external constraint on social reproduction into an internal driver for a harmonious and livable human home. President Xi’s in-depth explanations of China’s proposition for a clean and beautiful world on many international occasions have had a broad impact, pointing the way forward for global ecological civilization.
Expanding the Practical Path of Green Development
Green development is a core component of Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization and is increasingly becoming a global consensus. However, the process of human society moving toward green development has been convoluted. The Industrial Revolution, with its technological innovations, once developed the productive forces of society to an enormous degree. As the Manifesto of the Communist Party pointed out: "The bourgeoisie, during its rule of scarce one hundred years, has created more massive and more colossal productive forces than have all preceding generations together." However, technological progress also brought about the expansion of human greed and the intensification of the plunder of nature. Engels profoundly noted: "Let us not, however, flatter ourselves overmuch on account of our human victories over nature. For each such victory nature takes its revenge on us. Each victory, it is true, in the first place brings about the results we expected, but in the second and third places it has quite different, unforeseen effects which only too often cancel the first." Numerous environmental disasters in Western countries during the 20th century demonstrated that a mere desire to conquer nature cannot ultimately escape nature's retribution.
As a result of human reflection, we must strengthen ecological protection and achieve sustainable development. Some developed countries proposed models like the green economy, circular economy, and low-carbon economy. However, while they improved their own environments through green technologies, they also transferred environmental pollution and energy-intensive industries to a large number of developing countries, including China, through multinational corporations and the international trade system. In the early stages of Reform and Opening-up, due to insufficient understanding and inadequate measures, China also faced tight resource constraints, increased pollution, and ecosystem degradation. In response, at the 2010 Boao Forum for Asia annual meeting, then-Vice President Xi Jinping clearly stated: "We must place more emphasis on refining development models and find a path of green and sustainable development that conforms to the trend of the times and possesses Asian characteristics."
Since the New Era, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has proposed the New Development Philosophy of innovation, coordination, green development, openness, and sharing, placing green development at a prominent position in the overall development landscape. In "Promoting the Formation of Green Development Patterns and Lifestyles is a Profound Revolution in the Outlook on Development," General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Our emphasis on promoting the formation of green development patterns and lifestyles is about adhering to the basic national policy of conserving resources and protecting the environment... to create a favorable production and living environment for the people."
Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization has further enriched the theoretical and practical connotations of green development, expanding it from the "greening" of production methods to a broader scope including lifestyles. It clarified six key tasks to promote green development and lifestyles, effectively guiding China to create world-shaking ecological and green development miracles. Looking at the world today, problems like a weak foundation for green development and unbalanced, inadequate development remain prominent. Especially for developing countries, some have "development without greenness," while others have "greenness without development." Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization guides China on the correct path of green development, offering beneficial references for other developing countries to explore new ideas and broaden their paths, contributing Chinese strength to a shared journey toward green development for all nations.
Proposing the Chinese Solution for Improving Global Ecological Governance
Effectively resolving the global ecological crisis requires universal cooperation and strengthened global environmental governance. In recent years, international organizations like the UN have done much to promote cooperation, addressing climate change, biodiversity loss, desertification, and global plastic pollution. However, global environmental governance still faces the issue of insufficient representation and voice for developing countries. A few nations pursue unilateralism and hegemonism, obstructing the global environmental agenda and eroding the authority and effectiveness of global governance. Furthermore, differences in national interests often make consensus difficult to reach in negotiations and even harder to implement. These factors pose severe challenges.
Since Reform and Opening-up, and especially since the 18th CPC National Congress, under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization, China has strengthened international cooperation in biodiversity, climate change, and desertification. It has grown from a participant in global environmental governance to a universally recognized contributor and leader. For example, China is a staunch supporter of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement, consistently fulfilling its international responsibilities in good faith. When the United States withdrew from the Paris Agreement, China played a crucial role in stabilizing the international framework for climate cooperation. China has solemnly pledged to the world that it will strive to peak carbon dioxide emissions by... [to be continued]
China aims to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and strive to achieve carbon neutrality before 2060, fully demonstrating its responsibility and breadth of vision as a major country. The first phase of the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) was held in China. We have actively promoted the comprehensive and effective implementation of the "Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework" adopted by the conference on a global scale, which fully reflects China's firm stance on valuing the role of the United Nations, adhering to multilateralism, and strengthening global environmental governance. Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization insists on active participation in global environmental governance, emphasizing the proactive assumption of environmental governance obligations compatible with national conditions, stages of development, and capacity. It provides more public goods to the world and injects greater certainty and positive energy into global environmental governance.
In the face of problems existing in the global environmental governance system, and with a focus on defending international fairness and justice and enhancing the effectiveness of the global environmental governance system, President Xi Jinping emphasized in his speech "For a Shared Future: Jointly Build a Community of Life for Man and Nature": "China firmly practices multilateralism and strives to promote the construction of a fair and reasonable global environmental governance system characterized by win-win cooperation," providing a Chinese solution for global environmental governance. At the 19th G20 Summit, President Xi Jinping proposed to "improve global ecological governance and build an eco-friendly world economy." Standing at the height of responsibility for human civilization, Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization proposes the construction of a fair, reasonable, and win-win global environmental governance system. It implements the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities [5] and provides a systematic solution to problems such as structural imbalances in the global environmental governance system, the exacerbation of the governance deficit, and the imbalance between the rights and obligations of developed and developing countries. Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization contains a brand-new model of global environmental governance that forcefully responds to the challenges currently facing global environmental governance, and it will surely guide the reform of the global environmental governance system toward a more just and reasonable direction.
Forming a Brand-New Model of Shared Results
In his speech "Working Together to Build a Green Home and a Beautiful Community of a Shared Future," President Xi Jinping pointed out: "In the face of ecological and environmental challenges, humanity is a community with a shared future where we prosper or suffer together; no country can stand alone." Strengthening global environmental governance and joining hands to meet ecological challenges is not for the benefit of a few countries, but to enhance the well-being of all humanity. We cannot allow only a few countries to benefit from global environmental governance while other countries, especially the vast number of developing countries, only bear the responsibilities. Only by realizing the sharing of the achievements of global ecological civilization construction, so that all countries fulfilling their responsibilities can obtain the benefits brought by the improvement of the ecological environment, can we continuously stimulate the endogenous dynamic of global environmental governance and converge the majestic force of jointly building a global ecological civilization.
Sharing means joint use and distribution; what is pursued is that everyone enjoys and finds their proper place, rather than sharing by a few or a portion of people. Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization aligns with the urgent desire of most countries in the world to share the fruits of global ecological civilization construction. It adheres to a people-centered approach [6], takes sharing as an unswerving value pursuit, insists that a good ecological environment is the most universal welfare for people's livelihoods, and persists in ensuring that ecology benefits, assists, and serves the people. It continuously meets the people's growing needs for a beautiful ecological environment, marking the value orientation for better sharing the fruits of global ecological civilization construction. Centering on the construction of a global ecological civilization, Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization has further broadened the connotation and scope of sharing, providing new choices and solutions for effectively improving the level of sharing global ecological civilization construction results. In his keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2018, President Xi Jinping emphasized: "Looking to the future, we must respect nature and cherish the Earth. We should adopt a green, low-carbon, and sustainable development philosophy, and respect, adapt to, and protect the natural ecology. We should strengthen exchanges and cooperation in fields such as climate change, environmental protection, and energy conservation and emission reduction, share experience, and meet challenges together. We must continuously pioneer a civilized development path featuring productive development, a prosperous life, and a sound ecology, leaving blue skies, blue seas, and green mountains [7] for our future generations." It is evident that Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization not only advocates sharing the fruits of green development but also advocates sharing experience in global environmental governance, providing important guidance for the steady and long-term progress of the path toward global ecological civilization.
At present, improving the sharing level of global ecological civilization construction results requires correcting historical injustices in the process of modernization and striving for more rights and interests for the vast number of developing countries. Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization demonstrates China's firm determination to always stand with the vast number of developing countries and promote common development. In "Jointly Promoting Global Development Toward a New Stage of Balance, Coordination, and Inclusiveness," President Xi Jinping proposed: "Pay attention to the special needs of developing countries, support developing countries, especially vulnerable countries with particular difficulties, through debt relief and development assistance, and focus on solving the problems of unbalanced and inadequate development between countries and within countries"; "China will vigorously support the green and low-carbon energy development of developing countries." In "Actively Building a 'Green Silk Road,'" he proposed: "Create more development opportunities and space for developing countries, help them escape poverty, and achieve sustainable development." In "Meeting the Challenges of Our Times and Jointly Advancing Global Climate Governance," he emphasized: "Developed countries have an obligation to provide help and support to developing countries, assisting the global green and low-carbon transition and enhancing the common and long-term well-being of people in all countries." Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization firmly defends the common interests of developing countries, urges developed countries to assume their historical responsibilities, and occupies the high ground of international morality, injecting powerful ideological impetus into promoting development achievements and a good ecology to benefit the people of all countries more broadly and fairly.
(The author is a specially invited researcher at the Beijing Municipal Research Center for Xi Jinping Taoism on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era) Source: People's Daily (October 28, 2025) Web Editor: Huihui