Study and implement the spirit of the China Ecological and Environmental Protection Conference in depth

Promote the modernization of harmonious coexistence between man and nature through the construction of a beautiful China

--Work report at the 2024 China Ecological and Environmental Protection Work Conference

Huang Runqiu, Minister of Ecology and Environment

Comrades:

The main task of this China Ecological and Environmental Protection Work Conference is to take Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as the guidance, fully implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Second Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and the Central Economic Work Conference, study and implement Xi Jinping's Thought on Ecological Civilization and the spirit of the China Ecological and Environmental Protection Conference in depth, summarize the work of ecological and environmental protection in 2023, analyze the current situation, and arrange and deploy key tasks in 2024. Next, I will talk about three aspects.

1. Positive progress has been made in ecological and environmental protection in 2023

2023 is the first year for the comprehensive implementation of the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, and it is also a milestone year in the field of ecological environment. The Party Central Committee held the China Ecological and Environmental Protection Conference again after a lapse of five years. General Secretary Xi Jinping attended the conference and delivered an important speech. He profoundly summarized the "four major changes" in China's ecological civilization construction and the "five major relationships" that must be handled well, systematically deployed "six major tasks", and emphasized the "one major requirement" of "upholding and strengthening the overall leadership of the Party", which provided us with an action program and scientific guide for continuing to promote ecological civilization construction in the new era and new journey.

In the past year, facing the severe and complex ecological and environmental protection situation, China's ecological and environmental system adhered to the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, fully implemented the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Party and the Second Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee, firmly practiced Xi Jinping's Ecological Civilization Thought, took responsibility, fulfilled its duties, coordinated the promotion of high-quality economic development and high-level ecological and environmental protection, vigorously promoted the construction of a beautiful China, and achieved new results in ecological and environmental governance.

(I) Conscientiously implement the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, and resolutely achieve "two safeguards"

Make every effort to prepare for the China Ecological and Environmental Protection Conference and study and implement the spirit of the conference. The preparation for the conference was regarded as an important political task. A leading group and a special working group were established to draft important documents for the conference and to ensure the successful convening of the conference. After the conference, a meeting of cadres and staff of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment was held in a timely manner, and a work deployment meeting for in-depth study and implementation of the spirit of the conference was held. Special reading classes were organized, and the "Notice on In-depth Study, Publicity and Implementation of the Spirit of the China Ecological and Environmental Protection Conference" and the "Ministry of Ecology and Environment's Division of Labor Plan for Implementing the Key Tasks of the China Ecological and Environmental Protection Conference" were issued and implemented. Specific tasks were sorted out and detailed, and each item was implemented in detail and supervision and inspection were strengthened to ensure that the spirit of the conference was implemented and effective. The "Opinions on Comprehensively Promoting the Construction of a Beautiful China", "Opinions on Strengthening Zoning and Control of the Ecological Environment", and "Opinions on Deepening the Reform of the Vertical Management System of Monitoring, Supervision and Law Enforcement of Ecological and Environmental Institutions Below the Provincial Level" were promoted. All provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities) and the Corps successively held their own provincial ecological and environmental protection conferences, or held relevant meetings in the name of the Party Committee to study and implement the spirit of the China Ecological and Environmental Protection Conference, and make comprehensive arrangements for strengthening ecological and environmental protection work in the new journey.

Strengthen the research, publicity and interpretation of Xi Jinping's thoughts on ecological civilization, and do a good job in handling important instructions from General Secretary Xi Jinping. Steady progress has been made in the construction of the Xi Jinping Ecological Civilization Research Center, and seminars on in-depth study and implementation of Xi Jinping's Ecological Civilization Thought have been held for five consecutive years. The implementation of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions and instructions has been regarded as an important political task. The "Methods for Handling and Supervising Important Instructions from General Secretary Xi Jinping" have been revised to improve the work mechanisms of registration and approval, communication and learning, implementation, supervision and supervision, assessment and evaluation, and archiving management. We have done a good job in implementing the work, which has effectively led to the continuous improvement of the ecological environment protection system and mechanism and the improvement of ecological environment governance capabilities. We have promoted the implementation of the comprehensive governance of Baiyangdian, studied and established a Baiyangdian water quality monitoring, evaluation and assessment system of "three water coordination", and strengthened ecological environment supervision and governance effect evaluation. We have made every effort to promote the special rectification of fraud by third-party environmental protection service agencies. Throughout the year, 2,260 third-party environmental protection service agencies were severely investigated and punished in various places, and 457 typical cases were publicly released. We have studied and formulated the "Management Measures for Self-Monitoring of Pollutant Discharge Units" to refine the requirements for self-monitoring supervision of pollutant discharge units. Organize and carry out special research, deeply explore the successful practices and experience concepts of ecological civilization construction such as the comprehensive management of Xiamen Yundang Lake in the past 35 years, and use them as important models and vivid examples for studying, publicizing and interpreting Xi Jinping's ecological civilization thought, and continue to do a good job in publicity and innovative transformation. Improve the mechanism for promoting local practices of Beautiful China.

Deepen the central ecological environment protection inspection. Formulate the "Central Ecological Environment Protection Inspection Work Plan (2023-2027)". With the approval of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, organize the third round of the first batch of central ecological environment protection inspections in Fujian, Henan, Hainan, Gansu and Qinghai. Solidly promote the rectification of inspections. By the end of 2023, the overall completion rate of the 2,164 rectification tasks specified in the rectification plan of the second round of inspections reached 79%. Take the lead in filming the ecological environment warning film of the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the Yellow River Basin in 2023, and verify a number of outstanding issues around the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin.

Make every effort to support the overall improvement of economic operation. Formulate and implement the "Several Measures for Ecological Environment to Promote Stable Growth and Serve High-quality Development", and fully implement 30 specific measures of five major actions, including environmental impact assessment service guarantee, expansion of effective investment, assistance to enterprises in difficulties, environmental policy support, and reform to improve quality and efficiency. Issue opinions on further optimizing environmental impact assessment work, propose to explore "integration of environmental impact assessment and pollutant discharge permit approval", implement "four batches" (pilot exemption of a batch of registration form project filing procedures, promotion of "bundling" approval of a batch of report form projects, simplification of environmental impact assessment content of a batch of report (form) projects, and optimization and improvement of a batch of project environmental impact assessment total index review management) and other reform measures to improve environmental impact assessment quality and efficiency. Give full play to the role of the "three ledgers" of environmental impact assessment approval, and complete the environmental impact assessment approval of 415 key projects, including the Guxian Water Conservancy Hub on the Yellow River, the Hefei-Wuhan High-speed Railway, and the Guangxi LNG Export Pipeline Double Line (Baise-Wenshan). Throughout the year, China approved a total of 124,000 environmental impact assessment documents, involving a total investment of 22.4 trillion yuan. The "14th Five-Year Plan" major engineering ledger system in the field of ecological environment includes 12,000 projects, and completes an investment of 600 billion yuan. Differentiated supervision measures have been continuously deepened. China has included more than 51,000 enterprises in the positive list of supervision and law enforcement, carried out more than 53,000 off-site inspections, and the number of on-site law enforcement inspections has decreased by 20.9% year-on-year.

(II) Adhere to precise, scientific and law-based pollution control, and continue to fight the tough battle against pollution

Deepen the battle to protect blue skies. The State Council issued the "Action Plan for Continuous Improvement of Air Quality". Clean heating in northern China has been steadily promoted, and scattered coal treatment has been completed for about 2 million households throughout the year. A total of 420 million tons of crude steel production capacity has been completed. Ultra-low emission transformation of the entire process, desulfurization and denitrification of sintering pellets, closure of material yards and other key projects of 400 million tons of crude steel production capacity have been completed, and 85,000 outstanding problems of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have been rectified. For six consecutive years, the "double random, one public" supervision and spot check of motor vehicle inspection and testing institutions has been carried out, and 13 auto companies have been urged to implement environmental protection recalls involving 3.26 million vehicles. Promote the establishment of a joint prevention and control mechanism for air pollution in the urban agglomeration on the northern slope of the Tianshan Mountains, the Northeast region, and the urban agglomeration in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. Promote full coverage of the emergency emission reduction list for heavy pollution weather, and add 240,000 enterprises. Issue and implement the "14th Five-Year Plan for Noise Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan" and the "2024 Hydrofluorocarbon Quota Total Setting and Allocation Plan".

Further promote the battle to protect clear water. Issue and implement the "Key River Basin Water Ecological Environment Protection Plan". Issue the "Yangtze River Basin Water Ecological Assessment Index Scoring Rules (Trial)" and carry out the Yangtze River Basin Water Ecological Assessment. Guide 19 provinces and cities in the Yangtze River Basin to formulate total phosphorus pollution control plans, and continue to carry out special actions for water pollution control in industrial parks in the Yangtze River Economic Belt. Continue to promote the investigation, rectification and standardization of sewage outlets into rivers and seas, and investigate more than 250,000 sewage outlets into rivers, and about 1/3 have completed rectification. The Notice on Further Improving the Environmental Protection of Black and Smelly Water Body Treatment was issued. A national spot check was conducted on the treatment of urban black and odorous water bodies. 183 outstanding problems were tracked and supervised, and the elimination rate of black and odorous water bodies in county-level cities reached more than 70%. The seven eastern provinces were guided to take the lead in conducting the investigation and treatment of black and odorous water bodies in county towns, and a preliminary list of black and odorous water bodies in county towns in China was established. The standardized construction of centralized drinking water sources in Chinese cities and the demarcation and establishment of township-level centralized drinking water source protection areas were continuously promoted. The total nitrogen emission reduction of rivers entering the sea and the improvement of water quality in coastal waters were promoted. More than 50 rivers entering the sea issued and implemented the "one river, one policy" treatment plan. The average total nitrogen concentration of the sections of China's state-controlled rivers entering the sea decreased by 12.2% year-on-year, among which the average total nitrogen concentration of the sections of the state-controlled rivers entering the sea around the Bohai Sea decreased by 19.9% year-on-year. Special cleaning operations were carried out in key bays, and supervision of marine engineering and marine dumping was strengthened. The third marine pollution baseline survey was fully launched, and the unveiling of five marine environmental emergency bases in Tianjin, Shanghai and other places was completed. The second batch of 50 outstanding cases of beautiful rivers, lakes and bays was released.

The battle to protect clean land was further advanced. We continued to carry out source control actions for heavy metal pollution such as cadmium in agricultural soil, and launched 124 major projects for source control of soil pollution. 22 provinces in China designated 210 key areas in areas where polluted cultivated land was concentrated to implement special emission limits for heavy metal pollutants. We carried out regular remote sensing monitoring of the implementation of safe use of polluted cultivated land soil, and promoted the inclusion of source control and safe use of cultivated land soil pollution into relevant assessments such as cultivated land protection and food security and food safety. We completed the "look back" on the hidden danger investigation of more than 6,400 key soil pollution supervision units. We issued the "Guiding Opinions on Promoting Soil Pollution Risk Control and Green and Low-Carbon Restoration", and included a total of 2,058 plots of land in the risk control and restoration list management. We included more than 9,000 plots of land vacated by closed and relocated enterprises in the priority supervision list. The Technical Guidelines for Delineating Key Areas for Groundwater Pollution Prevention and Control (Trial) were issued, and 2,616 enterprises were included in the list of key pollutant dischargers for groundwater pollution prevention and control. Pilot projects for soil and groundwater pollution control and remediation were deployed for enterprises and chemical parks. More than 2,700 counties (cities and districts) in China were encouraged to compile and issue special plans for rural domestic sewage treatment in counties, and 611 large livestock counties were encouraged to compile and issue plans for livestock and poultry breeding pollution prevention and control. The Guiding Opinions on Further Promoting Rural Domestic Sewage Treatment were issued, promoting environmental improvement in more than 16,000 administrative villages and treatment of more than 800 large-scale rural black and odorous water bodies.

Strengthen the treatment of solid waste and new pollutants. Promote 113 cities at or above the prefecture level and 8 special areas to issue the "Zero Waste City" implementation plan, and various places have arranged more than 3,200 engineering projects, involving a total investment of more than 1 trillion yuan. Guide 15 provinces to promote the construction of "Zero Waste City" in an orderly manner across the region. The "Overall Implementation Plan for the Construction of Major Hazardous Waste Projects (2023-2025)" was issued, and the "1+6+20" major hazardous waste projects were scientifically planned and constructed to accelerate the filling of the gaps in the prevention, control and disposal of hazardous waste environmental risks. The three-year special campaign for hazardous waste remediation was fully completed. A special joint action by ministries and commissions for plastic pollution control was organized. The "Action Plan for the Control of New Pollutants" was implemented, and a pilot demonstration for the control of new pollutants was launched. The "Statistical Survey System for Environmental Information on Chemical Substances" was issued and implemented, and environmental information statistics on the production and use of more than 4,000 key chemical substances in 122 key industries were completed. Full life cycle environmental risk control measures were implemented for 14 types of new pollutants, and 8 types of key controlled new pollutants were eliminated. Problem rectification was promoted for 1,136 tailings ponds in the Yangtze River Economic Belt and 235 tailings ponds in the Yellow River Basin. The "Waste Removal Action" was organized in the Yellow River Basin, and relevant provinces were urged to clean up and rectify nearly 34 million tons of solid waste, with a problem rectification completion rate of 99.4%. The on-site phase of the investigation of the pollution status of historical mines in the Yellow River Basin was completed. Key provinces were guided to strengthen thallium pollution control.

(III) Adhere to the synergistic efficiency of pollution reduction and carbon reduction, and promote the green and low-carbon development of economic and social development

Actively promote green and low-carbon development. Establish and improve the ecological environment zoning management system and promote the dynamic update of results. Complete the environmental impact assessment review of the provincial mineral resources planning and 40 major special planning in the "14th Five-Year Plan", and put forward optimization and avoidance requirements for more than 4,700 square kilometers of planning blocks involving ecological protection red lines. Conduct environmental impact assessments on 62 provincial and municipal land and space planning, and promote the optimization of land and space development and protection patterns. Strictly implement environmental impact assessment access, implement equal or multiple replacement of new pollutants, incorporate greenhouse gas emission control into environmental impact assessment management, and resolutely curb the blind launch of "two highs and one low" projects. Formulate and implement relevant measures to promote the protection of major regional strategies for the ecological environment, carry out a new round of preparation of the ecological environment protection plan for the coordinated development of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, carry out follow-up evaluation of the implementation of the joint ecological environment protection plan in the Yangtze River Delta region, and promote the establishment of a cooperation and exchange mechanism for ecological environment protection in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Steadily carry out coordinated innovation in pollution reduction and carbon reduction in multiple fields and at multiple levels, and release the first batch of coordinated innovation pilot lists including 21 cities (districts) and 43 industrial parks.

Deepen the work related to addressing climate change. Compile and issue the "Key Tasks for Addressing Climate Change (2023-2025)" and the "Action Plan for Methane Emission Control". Promote the smooth completion of the second compliance cycle of China's carbon emission trading market (2021 and 2022), and include 2,257 key emission units in the power generation industry, covering an annual carbon dioxide emission of more than 5 billion tons, and the compliance completion rate exceeds 99%. The China Carbon Market Management Platform was built and put into operation, and the monthly information storage and evidence submission rate remained 100% for 8 consecutive months; carry out special supervision and assistance on the quality of carbon emission report data, and effectively control the quality of carbon data. Issue and implement the "Management Measures for Voluntary Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Trading (Trial)", and launch China's voluntary greenhouse gas emission reduction trading market, marking the initial formation of China's complete carbon trading market system. Successfully hold the first China Carbon Market Conference.

(IV) Adhere to the bottom line thinking and continue to consolidate the ecological environment security line

Continue to strengthen the supervision of ecological protection and restoration. Complete the survey and assessment of China's ecological status changes (2015-2020), and carry out the evaluation of the effectiveness of the pilot project of ecological protection and restoration of mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes and grasslands during the 13th Five-Year Plan. In conjunction with six departments, carry out the "Green Shield 2023" nature reserve strengthening supervision, conduct on-site inspections of 65 nature reserves, and promote the rectification of 179 key issues. Organize and carry out remote sensing monitoring of human activities within the ecological protection red line, and identify 225 ecological damage issues after on-site verification. Release the "China Biodiversity Conservation Strategy and Action Plan (2023-2030)", and work with relevant departments to study and formulate the "Implementation Plan for Major Biodiversity Conservation Projects (2023-2030)". Improve the supervision standards and specifications for wetland protection, cooperate in the enforcement inspection of the Wetland Protection Law, promote relevant documents and plans to clarify the ecological environment department's ecological protection and restoration performance assessment responsibilities, formulate technical specifications for desertification area and wetland ecological quality evaluation, and make institutional progress in cross-departmental ecological supervision work such as desertification prevention and control and wetland protection. Jointly release 15 outstanding ecological protection and restoration cases, and determine the third batch of 7 integrated protection and restoration projects for mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes, grasslands and sands. Award and name the seventh batch of 104 ecological civilization construction demonstration areas and 53 "Green Water and Green Mountains are Gold and Silver Mountains" practice and innovation bases.

Effectively control ecological and environmental safety. The national ecological security coordination mechanism was strengthened and a plenary meeting was held to issue work rules and deploy and promote the construction of a monitoring and early warning system. China's natural ecosystem remains generally stable, the number of days with heavy pollution is effectively controlled, surface water pollution during the flood season is effectively controlled, and the outbreak of algal blooms in key lakes is effectively curbed. The "one river, one policy, and one map" for environmental emergency response of 2,266 key rivers has been compiled, accounting for 90% of the total number of plans. China has investigated more than 106,500 environmental risks and hazards, and about 95% have been rectified. The Ministry of Ecology and Environment directly dispatched and guided the handling of 121 emergencies of various types, effectively ensuring ecological and environmental safety.

Strictly supervise nuclear and radiation safety. Carry out safety review, environmental impact assessment and supervision work at the relevant stages of nuclear power plant construction in accordance with the law. Four new construction licenses for nuclear power units and 10 nuclear power unit site selection review opinions were issued. Organize and carry out the mid-term evaluation of the 14th Five-Year Plan for Nuclear Safety, and supervise the implementation of the three-year action plan for nuclear and radiation safety hazard inspection and rectification. Accelerate the decommissioning of old nuclear facilities and the management of historical radioactive waste, and promote the safe disposal of radioactive waste. In conjunction with relevant departments, issue documents to strictly control the online sales of radioactive materials and eliminate safety risks. China's operating nuclear power units, in-service civilian research reactors, and civilian nuclear fuel cycle facilities are operating safely. The construction quality of nuclear power units and civilian research reactors under construction is generally under control, and no events or accidents of level 2 or above on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES) have occurred. Successfully complete the implementation tasks of the Joint Review Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Convention on Nuclear Safety. Actively promote the feedback of experience on key nuclear safety issues and the assessment of nuclear safety situations, and improve the pertinence and effectiveness of nuclear safety supervision. Strengthen on-site supervision of nuclear safety equipment and the assessment of the capabilities of nuclear safety special process personnel.

(V) Adhere to reform and innovation, and strive to build a modern environmental governance system

Promote the implementation of major reform measures. Seriously implement the major decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee on institutional reform, complete the transfer of responsibilities for organizing the formulation of science and technology to promote ecological environment development plans and policies, as well as the transfer of relevant staff positions and personnel. Implement the task of streamlining the establishment of government agencies, and complete the filing of detailed plans for the "three determinations" regulations of the relevant departments and bureaus. Cooperate with the Central Organization Department to issue the "List of Powers and Responsibilities of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment". Promote the transfer of assets of the River Basin and Sea Bureau to make significant progress, laying a solid foundation for the long-term development of the ecological environment supervision of the river basin and sea area. Organize and complete the pilot reform of pollutant discharge permits in 54 regions, and publish 22 typical experience cases. China has completed the quality review of 364,100 pollutant discharge permits and the normative review of the content of 253,000 implementation reports, and has included 3.7572 million fixed pollution sources in the management of pollutant discharge permits.

Improve the legal, regulatory and standard system. Promote the promulgation of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Ecological Protection Law and the Interim Regulations on the Management of Carbon Emission Rights Trading, and revise and promulgate the Marine Environmental Protection Law and the Regulations on the Management of Ozone Depleting Substances. Formulate and revise three departmental regulations, and issue 100 ecological and environmental standards. Guide the practice of ecological and environmental damage compensation cases. China handled 14,700 ecological and environmental damage compensation cases, involving a compensation amount of 6.48 billion yuan. Promote the reform of the system of legal disclosure of environmental information. In the first disclosure cycle of 2022, more than 83,000 enterprises and institutions disclosed environmental information in accordance with the law.

Continuously improve the effectiveness of ecological and environmental law enforcement. Severely punish malicious environmental violations in accordance with the law with a "zero tolerance" attitude, and continue to jointly carry out the "two-strike" special action (combating environmental crimes of hazardous wastes and illegal crimes of falsifying automatic monitoring data of key pollutant-discharging units) with the Supreme People's Procuratorate and the Ministry of Public Security, investigate and deal with 2,906 illegal cases, impose fines of 471 million yuan, and transfer 1,624 suspected criminal cases to the public security. Throughout the year, various places handled 79,600 administrative penalty cases, with a total amount of fines and confiscations of 6.27 billion yuan. Promote the legal sentencing of environmental assessment fraud cases such as Shandong Jinhua and Jiangxi Zhanhang, and achieve a major breakthrough in the judicial practice of criminalizing environmental assessment fraud. 8,482 people were organized to complete on-site inspections of sewage outlets into the Yangtze River, Yellow River and Bohai Sea in 12 rounds, and nearly 109,000 sewage outlets were found, and more than 20,000 environmental problems related to sewage outlets were found and resolved. Adhering to the combination of "online" and "offline", nearly 28,000 people were organized to carry out 16 rounds of on-site and 14 rounds of remote air quality improvement supervision and assistance in key areas, inspected 57,000 enterprises in key industries, and found and promoted the resolution of more than 87,000 various air-related environmental problems. The ecological environment protection law enforcement training activities have been organized for eight consecutive years. China is equipped with 499,000 sets of environmental protection law enforcement equipment according to standards, nearly four times more than in 2022, and the upload rate of mobile law enforcement inspection data exceeds 99%.

Strengthen innovation in ecological environment governance. Convened an ecological environment science and technology work conference to plan and promote the reform of the ecological environment science and technology system, and proposed measures such as reshaping and reconstructing the science and technology management system, value system, staff organization system, innovation platform system, and results and talent evaluation and assessment system in the field of ecological environment. Issue the management measures for ecological environment statistics, revise the statistical survey system for emission sources, and improve the quality of ecological environment statistics. Vigorously promote the construction of ecological environment information platform, do a solid job in the spatial display and business application scenario development of basic data such as air quality assurance and supervision assistance, water environment, polluted land, project environme

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