Expert interpretation|Continue to fight the battle of blue sky defense in depth, and build a beautiful China with blue sky, white clouds and stars

Expert Interpretation | We will continue to fight the battle to defend the blue sky and build a beautiful China with blue skies, white clouds and stars

The battle to defend the blue sky is one of the main battlefields for in-depth pollution prevention and control. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council have successively deployed and implemented the Action Plan for Air Pollution Prevention and Control and the Three-Year Action Plan for Winning the Blue Sky Defense War to promote fine particulate matter (PM_2.5The concentration has been greatly reduced, and the people's sense of blue sky gain has been significantly improved. In order to further consolidate and expand the achievements of the blue sky defense campaign and achieve continuous improvement of air quality, the State Council recently issued the Action Plan for Continuous Improvement of Air Quality (hereinafter referred to as the "Action Plan"). This is the third consecutive top-level design document for national atmospheric environmental governance in the form of "Ten Atmospheric Measures", emphasizing the need to reduce PM_2.5With concentration as the main line, carbon reduction, pollution reduction, green expansion and growth are promoted through systematic governance, marking another solid step on the road of building a beautiful China with blue skies and white clouds and twinkling stars.

Build a beautiful China in an all-round way and accelerate the implementation of the Action Plan

The Action Plan inherits the effective practices of the past 10 years in the battle to defend the blue sky. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China's air pollution prevention and control policy has always focused on the core goal of improving air quality, and has achieved PM through the implementation of a series of effective measures_2.5Concentrations and days of heavy contamination have dropped dramatically. The Action Plan continues this effective practice with PM_2.5The improvement goal is to continue to pay close attention to the reduction of multi-pollutant emissions, deepen the coordinated emission reduction of NOx and VOCs, and effectively reduce the emission intensity. In terms of governance strategies, we will focus on the two main lines of promoting structural adjustment and strengthening end-of-line governance, continue to deepen structural changes in the fields of industry, energy, and transportation, and strengthen the comprehensive treatment of VOCs and the transformation of ultra-low emissions in key industries, so as to effectively ensure the effectiveness of emission reduction. In terms of the concept of governance, we will adhere to precise pollution control, scientific pollution control, and pollution control in accordance with the law, maintain strength, extend depth, and expand breadth, continue to fight the battle of blue sky defense in depth, and continuously improve the people's sense of blue sky.

The Action Plan is the refinement and implementation of the requirements for in-depth pollution prevention and control. The Action Plan fully aligns with the relevant goals and tasks of air pollution prevention and control in the Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Deepening the Battle of Pollution Prevention and Control, and effectively supports the detailed implementation of the requirements of the battle against pollution. In terms of air quality improvement goals, PM_2.5Concentration improvement targets and the ratio of heavily polluted days are broken down into areas to ensure responsibility compaction. In terms of key tasks, the task objectives, completion time limits and specific measures of industrial structure, energy structure, transportation structure and air pollution prevention and control tasks have been further clarified, and the responsible departments for the implementation of various tasks have been decomposed to effectively help the implementation of tasks and measures.

The Action Plan is an important part of the construction of a beautiful China. The "14th Five-Year Plan" period is the first five years for China to embark on a new journey of building a modern socialist country in an all-round way and march towards the second centenary goal. It is the first five years to move towards the goal of building a beautiful China in an all-round way by 2020 and achieving the phased goal of building a beautiful China. In response to the requirements of the times, the Action Plan has been upgraded from the previous emphasis on "air pollution prevention and control" to "continuous improvement of air quality", reflecting the characteristics of the times with air quality improvement as the core and actively promoting the construction of a beautiful China. The Action Plan sets air quality improvement targets for the 14th Five-Year Plan in response to the basic realization of the goal of building a Beautiful China by 2035. Facing the basic requirements of Chinese-style modernization, it is an important fulcrum for the construction of a beautiful China to solidly promote the green and low-carbon transformation of industry, energy and transportation, accelerate the formation of green and low-carbon production and lifestyle, and promote the establishment of a new development pattern.

Adhere to the concept of systematic governance and fully implement the Action Plan

Action Plan to reduce PM_2.5concentration is the core goal, and the coordinated treatment of multiple pollutants is realized by greatly reducing the emission of precursors. In 2022, my country's PM_2.5The average concentration is 29 micrograms/cubic meter, which is 2-4 times the actual concentration of developed countries in Europe and the United States, and there are still 1/4 of the urban PM in the country_2.5The concentration exceeds the national secondary standard, covering more than 1/3 of the population. At the same time PM_2.5It is the most important factor in the formation of heavily polluted weather that has the greatest impact on public health. At present and in the future, reduce PM_2.5Concentration will continue to be the main direction and core goal of air pollution prevention and control in China. The Action Plan adheres to the system concept and grasps the main contradictions and main aspects of air pollution in order to reduce PM_2.5With concentration as the main line, we should strengthen target coordination, multi-pollutant control coordination, departmental coordination, regional coordination, and policy coordination, and put forward whole-chain pollution prevention and control measures from the source to the process to the end, so as to continuously enhance the systematic, holistic and collaborative nature of atmospheric environment management.

The Action Plan adheres to structural optimization and adjustment, and promotes high-quality development with high-level protection. At present, China's economic development has entered a stage of high-quality development that accelerates green and low-carbon development. However, the overall level of green development in China is not high enough, the foundation is still relatively weak, energy demand will still maintain rigid growth, the industrial structure is biased, the energy structure is biased towards coal, and the transportation structure is biased towards highways. The Action Plan fully implements the new development concept, implements high-quality development and high-level protection in a coordinated manner, coordinates carbon reduction, pollution reduction, green expansion and growth, integrates air pollution prevention and control into the overall economic and social development, promotes the green transformation and upgrading of the industrial structure, energy structure and transportation structure, and forces the realization of high-quality development that prioritizes ecology and is green and low-carbon.

On the basis of promoting end-of-line emission reduction, the Action Plan further emphasizes the whole-process and multi-link system governance. With the continuous deepening of air pollution prevention and control, the potential of traditional end-of-line treatment and emission reduction has gradually narrowed. Based on the new situation, the Action Plan continues to tap the potential for emission reduction by strengthening the governance of the whole process system. In view of the in-depth governance of key industries, we will promote the ultra-low emission transformation of key industries such as steel, cement, and coking and coal-fired boilers with high quality, and extend the management to the requirements for clean transportation modes on the basis of clarifying the emission requirements of the whole chain of the production process. In view of VOCs emission reduction, we optimize the structure of raw and auxiliary materials and products containing VOCs at the source, and strengthen the comprehensive treatment of the whole process and the whole link in the process and end treatment to ensure the effectiveness of emission reduction. In view of the prevention and control of atmospheric ammonia pollution, the emission level should be reduced from the source through the promotion of mechanical deep application of nitrogen fertilizer and low-protein diet technology, and the process and terminal pollution should be reduced through the closed management of livestock and poultry farms and the closed disposal of manure, so as to effectively reduce the intensity of ammonia emissions.

The Action Plan continues to optimize cooperation in air pollution prevention and control in key regions to improve air quality across the country. At present, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and its surrounding areas, the Fenwei Plain and the Yangtze River Delta are still the most polluted areas in the country. The regional characteristics of air pollution processes in Chengdu-Chongqing region, urban agglomeration in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, Northeast China, and urban agglomeration on the northern slope of the Tianshan Mountains are significant. In view of the above characteristics, the Action Plan continues to improve the regional air pollution prevention and control coordination mechanism, and strengthens regional joint prevention and control at different levels and categories. In key areas, the state coordinates the prevention and control of air pollution in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and surrounding areas, and the coordination mechanism in the Fenwei Plain and the Yangtze River Delta region continues to play a role in promoting joint prevention and control. In other regions, the state has strengthened guidance on air pollution prevention and control cooperation in the Chengdu-Chongqing region, the northeast region, and the urban agglomeration on the northern slope of the Tianshan Mountains. The Action Plan also requires provincial (autonomous region) governments to strengthen joint prevention and control of air pollution between cities within their administrative areas according to their needs, and encourages relevant cities and counties in border areas to actively carry out joint prevention and control. On the basis of keeping the overall framework of key regions unchanged in the Three-Year Action Plan for Winning the Blue Sky Defense War, the Action Plan comprehensively considers multiple factors such as air pollution transmission and administrative management, and optimizes and adjusts the scope of the region to adapt to the new trend of air pollution in key areas.

Concerted efforts of society as a whole for the effective implementation of the Action Plan

Air quality is inextricably linked to everyone, and actions to improve air quality also require the joint efforts of the whole society. The Action Plan clarifies the tasks of the government, enterprises and the public. The government should take the initiative to play a leading role in the organization, and local governments should formulate local implementation plans, decompose goals and tasks, consolidate responsibilities, and strictly supervise and assess; Implement urban air quality compliance management, and improve the response mechanism for heavily polluted weather; Formulate and improve the system of laws, regulations and standards, improve the capacity of atmospheric environmental monitoring, supervision and law enforcement, and deepen accurate, scientific and law-based pollution control. Enterprises should actively control pollution, play the role of the main force in pollution reduction, take the initiative to eliminate outdated production processes and equipment, improve production processes, and accelerate green upgrading; On the basis of consolidating the emission reduction of sulfur dioxide and primary particulate matter, we will increase the emission reduction of nitrogen oxides and VOCs, and promote the control of ammonia emissions in a coordinated manner, so as to achieve the emission reduction of multi-pollutant systems; Strengthen the comprehensive management of the whole process and all links of VOCs. The public should widely participate in the formation of a green and low-carbon lifestyle, starting from low-carbon travel, energy and electricity saving, green consumption and other aspects of life, to reduce energy consumption and environmental pollution; Pay attention to the pollution control of enterprises, and actively play the role of social supervision.

Promoting continuous improvement of air quality is a concrete action to deeply implement Xi Jinping's ecological civilization thought and implement the deployment of the National Conference on Ecological Environmental Protection, an inevitable requirement for adhering to the people-centered approach to protecting people's health, and an important part of the construction of a beautiful China. To continue to deepen the prevention and control of air pollution under the new journey of building a modern socialist country in an all-round way, it is necessary to adhere to the general tone of seeking progress while maintaining stability, coordinate the promotion of carbon reduction, pollution reduction, green expansion and growth, take the improvement of air quality as the core, strictly organize and implement, strengthen scientific and technological support, continue to fight the battle to defend the blue sky, build a beautiful China with blue skies and white clouds and twinkling stars, and contribute "Chinese wisdom" to the construction of a clean and beautiful world.

(The author is Wang Jinnan, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, former president of the Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, and deputy director of the Human Resources and Environmental Protection Committee of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference)

Contribution | Department of Atmospheric Environment, Ministry of Ecology and Environment