Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization Zhejiang Forum Discussed the Synergy of Pollution Reduction and Carbon Reduction: Changing the Inefficient and High-Carbon Production Model and Stimulating Green Momentum for Economic Growth

Promoting the synergy of pollution reduction and carbon reduction is an important decision deployed by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, an important task to promote the construction of a beautiful China, and a vivid practice of Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization. In recent years, relevant departments have successively introduced a series of policies and measures, and various localities have actively practiced and explored based on their own realities, forming a lot of good experiences and practices. At the Zhejiang Forum on Xi Jinping's Thought on Ecological Civilization held recently, many experts and leaders gathered together to discuss the path to achieve synergy in pollution reduction and carbon reduction.

The collaborative innovation of pollution reduction and carbon reduction reflects more innovation in mechanisms

97.21, which is the synergistic index of pollution reduction and carbon reduction in Zhejiang Province in the first three quarters of this year, which has increased compared with 90.92 in 2022. Among the 11 districted cities, Hangzhou, Jiaxing and Lishui are among the top three. The index covers four dimensions: structural adjustment, pollution control, ecological protection, and climate change response, and sets up 6 first-level indicators, 15 second-level indicators, and 27 third-level indicators to quantitatively track, evaluate, and feedback the effectiveness of pollution reduction and carbon reduction work and the progress of measures in prefectures and cities, and timely discover weak links and outstanding problems, so as to provide decision-making guidance for relevant departments to continue to complete pollution reduction and carbon reduction work.

"In recent years, Zhejiang Province has vigorously promoted the construction of the country's first collaborative innovation zone for pollution reduction and carbon reduction, and took the lead in releasing the collaborative index of pollution reduction and carbon reduction, and quantitatively evaluated the effectiveness of pollution reduction and carbon reduction in 11 districted cities. Wang Yimiao, deputy director of the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Ecology and Environment and a first-class inspector, said.

In June 2022, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, together with the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, issued the Implementation Plan for Synergy in Pollution Reduction and Carbon Reduction, which carried out systematic planning and overall deployment for this work. According to the deployment, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment has organized a nationwide pilot project for collaborative innovation in pollution reduction and carbon reduction in cities and industrial parks. According to Pei Xiaofei, deputy director of the Comprehensive Department of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, since the beginning of this year, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment has released 25 practical cases of collaborative innovation in pollution reduction and carbon reduction in 12 provinces, including Beijing, Zhejiang, Anhui and Fujian, covering multiple levels such as cities, industrial parks, typical enterprises and policy mechanisms, covering key areas such as energy, industry, transportation and agriculture.

目前在绿色发展、低碳发展、生态产业等方面已有相关试点，为什么还要开展减污降碳协同创新试点？生态环境部环境与经济政策研究中心减污降碳协同部主任李丽平认为，一方面，原有试点对减污降碳协同增效内涵的体现不够充分；另一方面，The collaborative innovation of pollution reduction and carbon reduction reflects more innovation in mechanisms，因为在实现双碳目标和环境质量改善双任务的情况，经济社会发展需要深刻变革，不仅是技术手段，管理、制度都需要深刻变革。“产业园区实现减污降碳协同的重点在于创新管理机制、找准协同路径，持续提升协同成效。创新管理机制要求园区将减污降碳协同理念融入建设运营、企业入园和退出管理中，谋划搭建园区污碳协同管理平台，探索建立污碳协同控制机制，是有别于绿色、低碳、循环、生态等类型园区的内容。”

Valuable lessons have been learned from active piloting

Coordinated promotion of pollution reduction and carbon reduction is an effective way to change the traditional inefficient and high-carbon production and consumption patterns and stimulate the green momentum of economic growth.

As a collaborative innovation zone for pollution reduction and carbon reduction, Zhejiang Province has carried out in-depth policy innovation and model innovation, and has formed experience, practices and pilot results such as regional innovation, urban innovation, park innovation, and benchmarking projects, which also provide useful reference for other regions.

According to Gao Xiang, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and president of Zhejiang University of Technology, the Baima Lake Laboratory he is responsible for should focus on major scientific issues in the field of energy and carbon neutrality, vigorously promote the transformation of scientific research achievements, and lead and demonstrate the innovation of energy science and technology. "China's energy system is undergoing a green and low-carbon transition and is facing a lot of pressure. Countries around the world are formulating policies to promote energy technology innovation, and building a high-energy platform is the key to promoting green and low-carbon technology innovation. ”

In terms of financial model innovation, Zhejiang also has a lot of practices. According to Zhou Guomo, a professor at Zhejiang A&F University, Anji County uses bamboo forest carbon sinks as a lever to leverage low-interest loans from policy banks to support the innovation and development of the bamboo industry, so as to increase the exchange of bamboo forests, increase the income of bamboo farmers, increase the production of bamboo enterprises, and create a demonstration model of high-quality foreign exchange increase and rural revitalization. At present, it has obtained 11.5 billion yuan of joint credit loans from China Development Bank and other banking groups, and 6.2 billion yuan has been put in place.

According to reports, Zhejiang Province has promoted 346 collaborative pilot projects for pollution reduction and carbon reduction from cities, parks, enterprises and other multi-level and multi-fields, and has carried out a total of 1,329 low-zero carbon towns, streets and communities, and promoted voluntary greenhouse gas emission reduction, bamboo forest carbon sink trading, and marine blue carbon trading, so as to form a green and low-carbon industrial structure and spatial pattern from point to area.

Wang Yimiao said that Zhejiang Province will amplify the pilot demonstration effect, promote the integration of carbon reduction and pollution reduction, effectively play the role of carbon reduction action in the source of ecological environment quality improvement, and accelerate the construction of an integrated planning, promotion, supervision, and evaluation of pollution and carbon reduction collaborative work system. At the same time, we will also seize the "window period" for the reform of the system and mechanism of ecological and environmental science and technology, and actively promote the transformation from "departmental science and technology" to "field science and technology". Build a high-level platform, actively build a national, regional, provincial and municipal collaborative innovation mechanism, and form a network system of science and technology innovation platform with the ministerial key laboratory as the center, the provincial key laboratory as the node, and the provincial enterprise research institute as the tentacles.

"Formulate a list of key core technologies to tackle key problems, and strengthen green and low-carbon technologies such as energy storage, carbon capture, and consumption reduction. Relying on the country's first ecological environment 'brain', we will continue to iterate on application scenarios such as 'pollution reduction and carbon reduction online', accelerate the research and establishment of a localized carbon footprint factor library, realize all-round source traceability, full life cycle data acquisition, and whole-process quality control, accurately identify key links of carbon emissions, promote targeted technological emission reduction, and guide the full transition to green production, green trade, and green consumption. Wang Yimiao said.

Gather key areas and focus on innovation and leadership

While the synergy of pollution reduction and carbon reduction has achieved results, there are still some problems that need to be solved. For example, the consensus on the concept of synergy is not enough, and there is an independent and simplistic thinking of pollution reduction and carbon reduction; the path and method of collaborative governance are still in the exploratory stage, and there is a lack of effective models that can be used for reference; the coordinated policy measures need to be further integrated, and the incentive policy mechanism is relatively lacking; the overall benefits and measures of collaborative technology are not clear, especially the efficiency increase is difficult to reflect and quantify.

“下一步，我们将坚持先立后破、稳中求进，统筹短期与长期、重点与全局，以优化治理路径为重点，以结构调整、布局优化为关键，以政策协同、机制创新为手段，坚持系统观念，突出协同增效，Gather key areas and focus on innovation and leadership，进一步贯彻落实好实施方案。”裴晓菲说。

Wang Yimiao said: "Zhejiang will amplify the first-mover effect of common prosperity and promote the two-way rush of protection and transformation." We must not only transform high-quality 'green' into a steady stream of 'wealth', but also let Jinshan Yinshan better feed back the lucid waters and lush mountains, so that the high ecological value and high economic value promote each other and complement each other. At the same time, we should amplify the effect of system integration, promote the accurate matching of resources and demand, amplify the effect of co-construction and sharing, and promote both constraints and internal drives. "We need to promote the formation of a green and low-carbon oriented institutional mechanism for the whole chain, and seek the optimal solution in the multi-objective balance of pollution emissions, environmental bearing, and economic development. Wang Yimiao said that practice has fully proved that only by adhering to the organic unity of internal and external, maintaining normalized external pressure, and activating the consciousness of multiple subjects can we form a strong joint force to promote the construction of ecological civilization and green and low-carbon development.