Zhang Bo: Providing a Strong Guarantee for Promoting Green Production and Lifestyles
Green development is the defining hue of Chinese-path modernization. The "Recommendations of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Formating the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development" (hereinafter referred to as the Recommendations), deliberated and adopted by the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, lists "achieving new major progress in the construction of a Beautiful China" as one of the primary goals for economic and social development during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period [1]. Centered on "accelerating the comprehensive green transition of economic and social development and building a Beautiful China," it makes important deployments and emphasizes "accelerating the formation of green modes of production and lifestyles." This reflects the consistent high priority placed on green development by the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core. To implement the spirit of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee and achieve a comprehensive green transition in economic and social development, we must focus on fostering green industries and innovating green technologies to provide a strong guarantee for the promotion of green modes of production and lifestyles.
Fostering green industries. Green industries are the essential carriers for developing new quality productive forces and the vital material foundation for the comprehensive green transition of economic and social development. The Recommendations propose to "build a modern industrial system and consolidate and strengthen the foundations of the real economy," emphasizing that the focus of economic development must remain on the real economy while adhering to the directions of transformation toward intelligence, greening, and integration. Supporting green development with green industries requires expanding incremental growth, optimizing existing stock, and accelerating the green and low-carbon transition of the industrial structure. We must optimize and upgrade traditional industries, promoting green and low-carbon transformation in sectors such as steel, non-ferrous metals, chemicals, and building materials. We should vigorously develop green and low-carbon industries, encouraging the rapid growth of new industries, new business forms, and new commercial models oriented toward green and low-carbon goals. We must strengthen green manufacturing, cultivate and expand emerging and future industries, develop green service industries, and increase the "green content" of the modern industrial system. Simultaneously, we should develop green supply chains, encouraging enterprises to carry out green design, select green materials, implement green procurement, establish green manufacturing processes, promote green packaging, conduct green transportation, and manage the recycling and disposal of waste products. This ensures green environmental protection throughout the entire product lifecycle, integrating green development into the entire process of industrial upgrading and structural adjustment.
Innovating green technology. In recent years, global technological innovation has entered an unprecedented period of density and activity, with green technology becoming one of the key arenas of technological competition. To grasp the primary goals of economic and social development during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period and to actively yet prudently promote and achieve carbon peaking, we must accelerate technological innovation and continuously forge new advantages for green development. Only when green technology is transformed into actual productive forces can it effectively stimulate the innovative vitality of enterprises and inject more new momentum into green development. We must strengthen applied basic research, accelerate the research and development of key technologies, reinforce the dominant position of enterprises in technological innovation, and speed up the demonstration and promotion of advanced and applicable technologies. We should promote the deep integration of industrial digitalization and intelligence with greening, accelerate green technological innovation and the promotion of advanced green technologies, and push forward the construction of green and low-carbon digital infrastructure. We must deepen the application of artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing, and the industrial internet in fields such as power systems, industrial and agricultural production, transportation, and building construction and operation. We should guide digital technology enterprises toward green and low-carbon development, helping upstream and downstream enterprises improve their carbon reduction capabilities. Finally, we must enhance the innovative capacity of AI technology and accelerate the establishment of a system for next-generation AI key common technologies to continuously empower green development.
Perfecting green institutions. Institutions play a fundamental, holistic, and long-term role. To promote green development, we must allow institutions to become rigid constraints and "high-voltage lines" that cannot be touched. China’s "1+N" policy system for carbon peaking and carbon neutrality has been fully established, and the green and low-carbon policy framework is becoming increasingly refined, covering all aspects of economic and social development [2]. During the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, we must further improve the ecological compensation mechanism, promote the perfection of the environmental governance system, and protect the ecological environment with the strictest institutions and the most rigorous rule of law. We must continue to push deep into the battle for pollution prevention and control and the optimization of ecosystems, accelerating the implementation of a stationary pollution source supervision system centered on the discharge permit system, and perfecting standards, monitoring, evaluation, and accountability systems for the ecological environment. We shall implement the "dual control" system for total carbon emissions and intensity, improve the statistical accounting system for carbon emissions, and steadily implement policies such as local carbon assessments, industry carbon management, enterprise carbon management, project carbon evaluation, and product carbon footprints. We must refine the management of total resources and the comprehensive conservation system, implement fiscal, tax, financial, investment, price, technology, and environmental protection policies that promote green and low-carbon development, and strengthen the construction of market incentive mechanisms for the green economy to attract more capital and resources into the green and low-carbon sectors.
Cultivating a green culture. Adhering to green development is a profound revolution in the concept of development. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "We should promote the concept of ecological civilization, cultivate an ecological culture, and allow green and low-carbon lifestyles to become common practice." The Chinese nation has always followed the view of nature that "The Way follows nature" (Dào fǎ zì rán) and "Heaven and humanity are one" (Tiān rén hé yī), reflecting the pursuit of harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature [3]. To promote the comprehensive green transition of economy and society, the primary task is to transform ideological concepts, encouraging the whole of society to consciously participate in ecological environmental protection, earnestly practice the concept of green development, consciously promote green and low-carbon development, and form a lifestyle of "taking with restraint and using with moderation" (Qǔ zhī yǒu dù, yòng zhī yǒu jié) [4]. We should promote a green culture so that the concept that "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" takes deep root [5]. We must integrate the development concepts of respecting, conforming to, and protecting nature into daily life. We should coordinate the integrated protection and systematic governance of mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes, grasslands, and deserts, and encourage action by all people—starting from details like waste sorting, water conservation, and low-carbon travel—to ensure that green lifestyles become a prevailing trend. By raising the ecological civilization awareness of the entire society and making green, low-carbon living a conscious action, we will gather the broadest and deepest strength for the construction of a Beautiful China.