Full Transcript | The Ministry of Ecology and Environment held a regular press conference in January

On January 30, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment held a regular press conference for January. Sun Shouliang, Director of the Comprehensive Department of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, and Li Hongbing, Deputy Director of the General Office, attended the press conference to introduce the progress of China's work to promote the construction of a beautiful China. Pei Xiaofei, spokesperson of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, presided over the press conference, reported on the recent progress of key work on ecological and environmental protection, and jointly answered questions from reporters.

The scene of the press conference

Pei Xiaofei, Director General of the Department of Publicity and Education of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, and Spokesperson

Pei Xiaofei:Welcome to the first regular press conference of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment in 2024, I am Pei Xiaofei, the new director of the Department of Missions and Education, and I am very happy to meet you on this platform. As a new recruit on the news and propaganda front, I will learn from my predecessor, Mr. Liu Youbin, and work with my colleagues to introduce China's policies, actions and latest progress in the construction of ecological civilization and ecological environmental protection in a timely, accurate and comprehensive manner, sincerely respond to the concerns of the media and the public, and look forward to maintaining good exchanges and cooperation with all journalists and friends, and hope to get your support.

The theme of today's conference is to comprehensively promote the construction of a beautiful China. We have invited Mr. Sun Shouliang, Director General of the General Department of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, and Mr. Li Hongbing, Deputy Director of the General Office, to answer your questions.

Now, I would like to report on a few key tasks in the near future.

1. The "Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Comprehensively Promoting the Construction of a Beautiful China" was released

The "Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Comprehensively Promoting the Construction of a Beautiful China" was recently released, which makes systematic arrangements for comprehensively promoting the construction of a beautiful China in the new era and new journey, and is a programmatic document to guide the comprehensive promotion of the construction of a beautiful China.

The "Opinions" closely follow the requirements of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China on the construction of a beautiful China in the next five years, by 2035 and by the middle of this century, focus on the fundamental improvement of the ecological environment and the basic realization of the goal of a beautiful China by 2035, and propose to promote the improvement of the quality of the ecological environment from quantitative to qualitative change after three five-year efforts.

The "Opinions" clarified the key tasks of comprehensively promoting the construction of a beautiful China, and proposed to continue to promote pollution prevention and control, accelerate the green transformation of development mode, improve the diversity, stability and sustainability of the ecosystem, keep the bottom line of the safety of the construction of a beautiful China, create a demonstration model for the construction of a beautiful China, carry out the national action for the construction of a beautiful China, and improve the guarantee system for the construction of a beautiful China.

Comprehensively promoting the construction of a beautiful China is a great responsibility and a glorious mission, and efforts should be made to implement the "Opinions", strengthen organizational leadership, improve the implementation mechanism, strengthen publicity and promotion, and carry out assessment and evaluation. It is also hoped that all sectors of society will take action to carry out the construction of beautiful cities, beautiful villages, beautiful rivers and lakes, and beautiful bays, and jointly draw a new picture of a beautiful China.

2. The 2024 National Conference on Ecological and Environmental Protection will be held

From January 23rd to 24th, the 2024 National Conference on Ecological and Environmental Protection was held in Beijing to summarize the work of ecological and environmental protection in 2023, analyze the current situation, and arrange and deploy key tasks in 2024.

In the past year, in the face of the severe and complex ecological and environmental protection situation, the national ecological environment system has firmly practiced Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization, coordinated the promotion of high-quality economic development and high-level protection of the ecological environment, vigorously promoted the construction of a beautiful China, and achieved new results in ecological and environmental governance.

In terms of atmospheric environmental quality, in 2023, fine particulate matter (PM_2.5）The average concentration was 30 μg/m3, which was better than the annual target(32.9 μg/m3)About 3.0 micrograms per cubic meter, a decrease of 16.7% compared to 2019. In 2023, the national rate of good days will be 85.5%, and 86.8% after deducting the abnormal days of sand and dust, which is 0.6 percentage points better than the annual target and 3.5 percentage points higher than that in 2019. The national rate of heavily polluted days was 1.6%, and 1.1% after deducting the days of abnormal heavy pollution of sand and dust, which was the same as the annual target. In terms of water environment quality, the quality of surface water in the country will be excellent in 2023(Categories I.—III.)The proportion of cross-sections was 89.4%, an increase of 1.5 percentage points year-on-year, and the proportion of inferior V. cross-sections was 0.7%, which was the same as that of the same period last year. In terms of soil environmental quality, the safe use of polluted cultivated land and key construction land across the country will be effectively guaranteed in 2023.

The year 2024 is a crucial year for achieving the goals and tasks of the 14th Five-Year Plan, and it is also an important year for comprehensively promoting the construction of a beautiful China. We will make every effort to do a good job in the eight key tasks: actively promote the construction of the Beautiful China Pilot Zone, persistently fight the tough battle of pollution prevention and control, actively promote green, low-carbon and high-quality development, increase the supervision of ecological protection and restoration, ensure nuclear and radiation safety, strengthen ecological and environmental supervision and law enforcement and risk prevention, vigorously promote scientific and technological innovation in the field of ecological environment, and accelerate the improvement of the modern environmental governance system.

3. 117 advanced collectives and 45 advanced workers in the national ecological environment system were commended

On January 24, the National Ecological Environment System Advanced Collectives and Advanced Workers Commendation Conference was held in Beijing, where advanced collectives and advanced workers were commended and awarded, and some of the commended objects were invited to make advanced deeds reports.

In recent years, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core, the national ecological environment system has actively taken on the role, faithfully performed its duties and dedication, and made important contributions to the in-depth fight against pollution, the continuous improvement of the quality of the ecological environment, and the improvement of the people's sense of happiness in the ecological environment.

In order to commend the advanced, carry forward the spirit of the iron army of ecological environmental protection, and encourage the cadres and workers of the national ecological environment system to forge ahead on a new journey and make contributions to a new era, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment decided to award 117 units including the Atmospheric Environment Department of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Ecology and Environment the title of "Advanced Collective of the National Ecological Environment System", and awarded Shen Xiu'e and other 45 comrades the title of "Advanced Workers of the National Ecological Environment System".

This commendation is the first national commendation carried out by ecological and environmental departments at all levels since their establishment, a centralized review of the phased achievements of the construction of the cadre team of the national ecological environment system, a concentrated display of the spiritual outlook of the cadre team of the whole system, and a wonderful display of the work effectiveness of the whole system. The cadres and workers of the whole system should thoroughly study and implement Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization and the spirit of the National Conference on Ecological and Environmental Protection, take the commended collectives and individuals as examples, carry forward the spirit of the iron army of ecological and environmental protection that is politically strong, has high skills, has a hard work style, dares to take responsibility, and is especially able to endure hardships, fight, and dedication, and strive for excellence on the new journey of modernization in which man and nature coexist in harmony.

4. China's Biodiversity Conservation Strategy and Action Plan (2023-2030) was released

Biodiversity is the foundation for human survival and development, and the blood and foundation of the community of life on earth. China has always attached great importance to biodiversity conservation, and issued the Action Plan for Biodiversity Conservation of China for the first time in 1994, and has continuously promoted biodiversity conservation to keep pace with the times, innovate and develop, and embark on a path of biodiversity conservation with Chinese characteristics.

The Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) recently released a new version of China's Biodiversity Conservation Strategy and Action Plan(2023-2030)This is an important measure to implement the decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, and it is also an important measure for China as COP15(15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity)The presidency's continuous efforts to promote the implementation of the Kunmeng Framework have demonstrated to the world that China is responsible as a major country.

As the core tool of the national biodiversity conservation master plan and the implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Action Plan clarifies China's biodiversity conservation strategy in the new era, and deploys four priority areas, including biodiversity mainstreaming, addressing the threat of biodiversity loss, sustainable use and benefit sharing of biodiversity, and modernization of biodiversity governance capacity, with 6 to 8 priority actions under each priority area, covering a wide range of laws and regulations, policy planning, law enforcement supervision, publicity and education, investigation, monitoring and evaluation, Protection and restoration, realization of the value of ecological products, international implementation and cooperation, etc., to provide guidance for various departments and regions to promote biodiversity conservation.

Now let's move on to the question session, and please let us know your news organization before asking a question.

Answering questions from reporters

People's Daily: The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the State Council recently issued the Opinions on Comprehensively Promoting the Construction of a Beautiful China. How do you understand the goal of building a Beautiful China, what work has the Ministry of Ecology and Environment done in relevant aspects, and what are the specific arrangements for the next step?

Sun Shouliang, Director General of the Comprehensive Department of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment

Sun Shouliang:Thank you for your question.

Building a beautiful China is an important goal of building a modern socialist country in an all-round way and an important part of realizing the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China put forward the "strive to build a beautiful China", the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core has been consistent and deepened in its decision-making and deployment for the construction of a beautiful China, demonstrating a strong strategic determination and strong mission in the construction of ecological civilization.

In the process of studying and implementing the "Opinions", the deeper experience can be summarized by four key words, that is, "new picture, new pattern, new starting point, and new responsibility".

First, a "new picture" is painted. From putting forward the requirements for building a beautiful China, to the vision, blueprint, and then to the deployment, the current roadmap, construction drawings, task books and responsibility statements have been formed, which are not only truly "visible", but also really "grasped" and "landed", which is very confidence-boosting. The "Opinions" make a three-stage strategic arrangement, by 2027, the construction of a beautiful China has achieved remarkable results, by 2035, the goal of a beautiful China will be basically achieved, and looking forward to the middle of this century, the construction of a beautiful China will be fully completed. This is a grand blueprint for the goal of building a strong country and rejuvenating the nation. Specifically, in the field of ecological environment, we focus on the fundamental improvement of the ecological environment and the basic realization of the goal of Beautiful China by 2035, combined with the current structural, root cause and trend characteristics of China's ecological environmental protection, the path of ecological environment governance will also go through three stages, namely, the "14th Five-Year Plan" to achieve continuous improvement of the ecological environment, the "15th Five-Year Plan" to consolidate and expand to achieve comprehensive improvement of the ecological environment, and the "16th Five-Year Plan" to achieve the overall improvement of the ecological environment. This is a roadmap for promoting the improvement of ecological environment quality step by step, realizing from quantitative change to qualitative change, and realizing a beautiful China for a long time.

Second, a "new pattern" has been constructed. The "Opinions" make it clear that it is necessary to accelerate the formation of a new pattern of building a beautiful China oriented to realize the modernization of harmonious coexistence between man and nature. In the new era and new journey to build a beautiful China, I understand that the emphasis is on "comprehensiveness", and the development is embodied in the "four comprehensive". The first "comprehensive" is to emphasize the promotion of green and low-carbon economic and social development, and accelerate the transformation of energy, industry, transportation, urban and rural construction, agriculture and other fields; the second "comprehensive" is to take the construction of the Beautiful China Pilot Zone as the traction, and promote the all-round improvement of beautiful blue sky, beautiful rivers and lakes, beautiful bays, beautiful mountains and rivers, beautiful cities and beautiful villages in stages and batches; the third "comprehensive" is to promote the construction of a beautiful China in the west, northeast, central and eastern regions according to local conditions and in stages; the fourth "comprehensive" It is an action of the whole society, encouraging parks, enterprises, communities, schools and other grassroots units to carry out green, clean and zero-carbon leading actions, and transforming the construction of a beautiful China into social behavior consciousness. This requires our work to keep pace with the times, to see more broadly, to seek deeper, to think more thoroughly, and to implement more practically.

Third, a "new starting point" has been marked. In recent years, we have adhered to the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization, continued to strengthen the strategic planning and top-level design of the construction of a beautiful China, studied the index system of the construction of a beautiful China, issued measures and documents to strengthen the protection of the ecological environment and promote the construction of a beautiful China based on the responsibilities of the department, and continued to make efforts in regional cultivation, typical promotion, local practice, social action, etc., laying the foundation and creating conditions for the new era and new journey to open a new chapter in comprehensively promoting the construction of a beautiful China.

At the regional level, we will work with relevant departments to formulate and implement special plans for ecological and environmental protection focusing on major regional strategies, and continue to implement them. Highlighting the core orientation of "beauty", it has successively launched 56 excellent cases of beautiful rivers and lakes and 20 excellent cases of beautiful bays in two batches, named 572 demonstration areas for ecological civilization construction and 240 practice and innovation bases of "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets", and explored effective paths such as realizing the value of ecological products. Support the creative development of local practices, guide Zhejiang, Fujian, Shandong, Jiangxi, Sichuan and other provinces and cities such as Hangzhou, Shenzhen, and Qingdao to carry out practical innovation in the construction of a beautiful China in accordance with local conditions, and explore the formation of a demonstration and promotion model that integrates top-level design, rule of law guarantees, scientific planning, assessment and incentives, institutional innovation, engineering advancement, action breakthroughs, and social co-governance, so as to stimulate the vitality of power. Adhering to co-construction and sharing, we continued to carry out the series of activities of "Beautiful China, I am an Actor", held four consecutive sessions of the "Beautiful China 100 Forum", and the activities of the June Five-Year Environment Day were more extensive, the volunteer services for the ecological environment were continuously enriched, and the national action system for the construction of a beautiful China was increasingly improved.

Fourth, it highlights the "new responsibility". This is also our plan for the next step. Building a beautiful China is a long-term and arduous strategic task and systematic project, which needs to be systematically promoted in stages and plans. We will conscientiously implement the decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, make every effort to promote the implementation of the "Opinions", give full play to our functions, take responsibility for overall planning and coordination, build up the implementation mechanism, and carry out major deployment tasks, so as to play a leading role and take the lead in the process of comprehensively promoting the construction of a beautiful China. In conjunction with relevant departments, we will accelerate the establishment of an implementation system and implementation mechanism for the construction of a beautiful China, strengthen the promotion of work scheduling and follow-up evaluation, and study and formulate an evaluation index system and assessment methods for the effectiveness of the construction of a beautiful China, so as to ensure a smooth transition and orderly connection between the realization of the 15th Five-Year Plan and the evaluation of the effectiveness of pollution prevention and control.

The 2024 National Conference on Ecological and Environmental Protection, which has just been held, has made systematic arrangements for the ideas, goals, tasks and measures of the next step of the construction of a beautiful China, emphasizing the need to grasp the current and long-term Partially and completely, we should focus on the following: first, to focus on the construction of the Beautiful China Pilot Zone, and promote the creation of a demonstration model for the construction of a Beautiful China; second, to promote high-quality development as the theme, and simultaneously promote high-quality development and high-level protection; third, to promote the synergy of pollution reduction and carbon reduction as the main line, and to fight the landmark battle of pollution prevention and control; fourth, to strengthen the "five synergies" as the guide, to improve the level of ecological and environmental governance, and fifth, to strengthen the unified supervision of ecological protection and restoration as a breakthrough point, to enhance the diversity of ecosystems, Sixth, we should adhere to the principle of paying equal attention to incentives and constraints, enhance the endogenous motivation of all parties to protect the ecological environment, and lay a good foundation for comprehensively promoting the construction of a beautiful China. The above related specific content has been publicly released, and I believe that reporters have paid attention to it.

I would like to take this opportunity to share with you one of my experiences. The construction of a beautiful China, I understand, focuses on the word "action", which is the first priority. No matter how beautiful the blueprint is, it is a castle in the air without action, and the construction of a beautiful China benefits the broad masses of the people and is a cause jointly built and shared by the whole society. Whether it is a city or a village, whether it is a unit, a community, a family, or even an individual, they should all be actors and doers. It is necessary to give full play to the spirit of initiative, adapt measures to local conditions, energy conservation and consumption reduction, green and low-carbon, economical and intensive, and constantly pursue a higher level of ecological civilization.

I understand that it is to uphold the spirit of "action first, hard work first", and strive to form a number of practice demonstration models in a period of time, and then continue to implement them on a rolling basis and advance them in batches, so as to promote the realization of the goal of building a beautiful China for a long time. Therefore, in the organization and implementation of this work, we do not engage in the creation of listings, do not engage in evaluation and standardization, but do it in a down-to-earth manner, build step by step, promote high-quality development with high-level protection, and benefit the people's livelihood and well-being. To this end, we intend to build a display platform for the demonstration cases of the construction of a beautiful China, which will be open, open and transparent, and all levels and categories of good creations can be put on the platform, and supporting positive incentive measures, "there is no most beautiful, only more beautiful", and drive the formation of a vivid situation of "striving for excellence, reform and opening the way, continuing to advance, catching up with learning, and making more contributions", so that the picture of the construction of a beautiful China can be moved, lived, and always full of vitality.

CCTV: As for the construction of a beautiful China, which has always been planned and promoted by General Secretary Xi Jinping, and we also know that the Ministry of Ecology and Environment has established the Xi Jinping Thought Research Center for Ecological Civilization.

Li Hongbing, Deputy Director of the General Office of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment

Li Hongbing:Thank you for your question.

To comprehensively promote the construction of a beautiful China, we must adhere to the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, especially Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization, adhere to the transformation of all fields, all-round improvement, all-region construction, and whole-society action, unswervingly follow the path of civilized development with production development, affluent life, and good ecology, and build a beautiful home with blue sky, green ground, and clear water.

As mentioned by this journalist friend just now, the Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization Research Center is a research institution approved by the CPC Central Committee and established by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment to research, publicize and interpret Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization. By continuously deepening the construction of the "three highlands and two platforms", the "three highlands" are the highlands of theoretical research, learning and publicity, and institutional innovation, and the "two platforms" are the platforms for practice promotion and international communication, so as to give full play to the role of the research center as a national team and leader in the study, research and publicity of Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization. Promoting the construction of a beautiful China can be reflected in the "five leads", which are not only the results of the work that have been achieved, but also the direction of the next key efforts.

The first is to lead the transformation of the whole field with theoretical research. We will continue to promote Marxist theoretical research and major construction projects, carry out theoretical research closely around the major needs, hot spots and difficult issues of the construction of a beautiful China, highlight the strategic, forward-looking and foundational, pay attention to the integration of theory with practice, pay attention to the transformation of achievements, promote green technology innovation, enhance the endogenous driving force of the construction of a beautiful China, and promote the green transformation of all economic and social fields.

The second is to lead all-round improvement with institutional innovation. Pay attention to the fundamental role of system construction, focus on the construction of a beautiful China, deeply fight the battle of pollution prevention and control, put forward opinions and suggestions on institutional and policy innovation, support accurate, scientific and law-based pollution control, adhere to the system concept, problem-oriented, overall planning of elements, and urban-rural integration, and promote the construction of a beautiful China in an integrated manner, and promote all-round improvement.

The third is to lead the construction of the whole region with practice and promotion. Carry out in-depth research and summarization of local practice cases of the construction of a beautiful China, conduct in-depth analysis of their valuable experience and mature practices, promote the theoretical sublimation, experience promotion and practical transformation of the construction of a beautiful China, and gradually promote the full geographical coverage of the construction of a beautiful China nationwide.

Fourth, we should lead the whole society to take action through learning and publicity. Accelerate the popularization of Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization, carry out the promotion of Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization through various forms such as National Ecology Day and June Five-Year Environment Day, encourage grassroots innovation and demonstration, and transform the construction of a beautiful China into the behavior consciousness of all people.

Fifth, we should lead the story of beautiful China with international communication. Continue to promote the construction of a platform to support foreign discourse innovation. Give full play to the strengths of research centers, research institutions and think tanks, expand and deepen the form, content and channels of external communication, rely on important international occasions, actively promote the external dissemination of Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization, and tell the story of the construction of a beautiful China.

The Paper: The National Conference on Ecological and Environmental Protection proposed that we should further plan, plan and implement ecological and environmental protection work in the implementation of major regional strategies. What achievements has the Ministry of Ecology and Environment made in promoting the protection of major regional strategic ecological and environmental protection, and what are the next work arrangements?

Sun Shouliang:Thank you for your question, which is also a matter of great concern to everyone.

As mentioned above, the "Opinions on Comprehensively Promoting the Construction of Beautiful China" makes systematic arrangements for the construction of the Beautiful China Pilot Zone, which puts forward new and higher requirements for focusing on major regional strategies to build a green development highland. For a long time, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment has attached great importance to the major strategic ecological and environmental protection work in the region, and has worked with relevant localities to carry out beneficial explorations and achieved tangible results, which has laid a good foundation for us to promote the construction of the Beautiful China Pilot Zone.

From the perspective of regional ecological environment quality, the two cities and one province of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, 9 cities in the Pearl River Delta in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and 41 cities in the Yangtze River Delta will have fine particulate matter in 2023（PM_2.5）Compared with 2014, 2017 and 2018, the concentration decreased by 57.3%, 34.4% and 23.8%, respectively, and the proportion of surface water class I.-III. water quality sections increased by 36.4, 29.8 and 14.3 percentage points, respectively. The water quality of the main stream of the Yangtze River and the main stream of the Yellow River has been maintained as Class II for four consecutive years.

From the perspective of major regional strategic ecological and environmental protection work, there are three main "new changes":

First, the top-level design is more "systematic". The Ministry of Ecology and Environment, together with relevant departments, has formulated and issued special plans for ecological and environmental protection in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and Chengdu-Chongqing region, as well as the Plan for the Protection of the Water Ecological Environment in Key River Basins, and is preparing a new round of medium- and long-term plans for the coordinated development of ecological and environmental protection in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, with a clear direction and path for the goal of Beautiful China by 2035. Carry out follow-up and evaluation of the implementation of the "Yangtze River Delta Regional Ecological Environment Joint Protection Plan", establish a problem discovery and improvement mechanism, and ensure that the target tasks are completed in a timely manner. Up to now, major regional strategies have formulated special plans for ecological and environmental protection, and the leading role of planning has been continuously highlighted.

Second, the work is becoming more "normalized". We have issued 11 measures of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment to promote the protection of the national and regional major strategic ecological and environmental protection, established and improved the closed-loop work of "key points of work at the beginning of the year - comprehensive scheduling throughout the year - evaluation and assessment at the end of the year", formulated work lists on an annual rolling basis, accurately promoted the implementation of tasks, and continuously improved the work promotion mechanism, forming a set of smooth and dry methods. Up to now, major regional strategies have been gradually integrated into the central ecological and environmental protection inspection, air pollution prevention and control cooperation, climate change adaptation capacity building, ecological status change investigation, ecological environment science and technology development and other ecological environment in various fields, becoming a new support and new path to improve the level of ecological environment governance.

Third, policy innovation is more "deepening". We grasp the different characteristics of each region, open up the way for reform, deepen the point, innovate and make breakthroughs, work closely with relevant provinces and cities, constantly innovate differentiated regional policies, and play an important role in leading and exploring the way. In Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, we will deepen the cooperation and exchange mechanism for ecological and environmental protection among the three places, and negotiate and properly deal with regional environmental problems such as air, drinking water and solid waste that affect people's health and concern the people. In the Yangtze River Basin, Sichuan and Chongqing have taken the lead in establishing a "white list" for the inter-provincial transfer of hazardous waste, and in the Yellow River Basin, they have carried out and completed the investigation of the pollution status of more than 26,000 mines left over from history, and are promoting the application of the results. It can be seen that in the implementation of major regional strategies, there are many targeted, breakthrough and innovative explorations in ecological and environmental protection work, and a large number of excellent cases and beneficial experiences have been formed, and we are organizing publicity and promotion.

In the next step, we will thoroughly implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speech at the National Conference on Ecological and Environmental Protection, further plan, plan and implement ecological and environmental protection work in the implementation of major regional strategies, study and formulate guidance documents on strengthening the protection of major regional strategic ecological environment and promoting the construction of the Beautiful China Pilot Zone, and actively cultivate a number of exemplary models that support high-quality development with high-quality ecological environment.

This work is very broad, and we pay attention to grasping the "three forces": first, focus on force and highlight the key points. Focus on solving regional basin ecological and environmental problems, shape new momentum and new advantages of development through high-level protection, and actively play an active role in building a green development highland. The second is to make precise efforts and provide classified guidance. Based on the regional functional positioning, give full play to its own characteristics, formulate policies and measures by region and classification, and create new ways with their own characteristics in the construction of beautiful cities and beautiful villages according to local conditions. The third is to create synergy and strengthen collaboration. Break the traditional environmental governance model based on administrative regions, strengthen the joint protection and governance of the ecological environment, implement major projects in the fields of pollution reduction and carbon reduction, ecological environment infrastructure construction, etc., and play a leading role in the process of building a beautiful China.

China Youth Daily: The "Opinions on Comprehensively Promoting the Construction of a Beautiful China" pointed out that the implementation of the ecological environment informatization project will strengthen the integration and sharing of data resources and the comprehensive development and utilization of data resources. What has the Ministry of Ecology and Environment done to promote the construction of ecological environment informatization, and what technical support will it provide for the construction of a beautiful China in the next step?

Li Hongbing:Thank you for your question. Informatization is a significant feature of the development of modern society, and has been integrated into all fields and aspects of economic and social development. The Ministry of Ecology and Environment has always attached great importance to and promoted the construction of informatization at a high level, so that the supporting role of informatization has been greatly improved.

The progress of the work is prominently reflected in the "five new":

First, new breakthroughs have been made in information reform and innovation. The Ministry of Ecology and Environment has vigorously promoted the "four unifications and five concentrations" of ecological and environmental informatization. The four unifications are unified planning, unified standards, unified construction, and unified operation and maintenance. The five concentrations are data centralization, capital concentration, personnel concentration, technology concentration, and management concentration. The ability of informatization infrastructure has been significantly enhanced, and the digital literacy of the cadre team has been significantly improved, providing strong technical support for the coordinated promotion of high-quality economic and social development and high-level protection of the ecological environment.

Second, informatization has enabled new improvements in ecological and environmental governance. Actively build a smart and efficient digital governance system, build an information platform for comprehensive management of the ecological environment, integrate multi-source data such as ecological environment, meteorology, water conservancy, transportation, and electric power, and form nine types of data resources such as environmental quality, pollution sources, and natural ecology, with a total data volume of 3.9 PB, build a large ecological environment information system, and complete more than 40 special applications such as atmosphere, administrative licensing, soil, and law enforcement, so as to achieve "one map and one screen scheduling". We will continue to deepen the spatial display of basic data and the development of operational application scenarios such as air quality assurance and supervision and assistance, water environment, polluted land, project environmental impact assessment, pollutant discharge permits, and carbon market, and successfully open up an online battlefield for law enforcement and supervision, so that "where the battle against pollution and pollution is promoted, informatization will be covered." ”

Third, new progress has been made in promoting the efficient operation of government affairs through informatization. The Ministry of Ecology and Environment has vigorously promoted the construction of digital institutions, promoted the process optimization, model innovation and efficiency improvement of function performance through information technology, realized paperless office and mobile office, and realized "one network" for all 29 administrative licensing items, with an average annual number of online applications exceeding 35,000 pieces and a praise rate of 100%.

Fourth, new achievements have been made in information sharing and sharing. Promote data sharing and sharing, build various thematic databases and thematic databases, and provide more than 220 data resource sharing services to various localities and relevant departments of the State Council; access and comprehensive development and utilization of multi-source data such as population, legal persons, meteorology, water conservancy, electric power, etc., the potential of data has been fully utilized, and the management mode has been continuously optimized, providing big data support for further improving comprehensive research and judgment, scientific decision-making and precise supervision in the field of ecological environment.

Fifth, the ability to protect information security has been newly strengthened. Strictly implement the network and data security responsibility system, strengthen information security protection, and create and implement a series of network security joint prevention and control mechanisms such as information notification, attack and defense drills, risk early warning, and emergency response, and significantly improve security protection capabilities.

In the next step, we will fully implement the decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council and the spirit of the National Conference on Ecological and Environmental Protection, as well as the deployment made in the "Opinions on Comprehensively Promoting the Construction of a Beautiful China", strengthen the application of digital technology, continuously promote the deep integration of informatization and business management, build a digital governance system for a Beautiful China, build a green and intelligent digital ecological civilization, and play an active role in promoting high-quality economic and social development and high-level protection of the ecological environment.

Phoenix TV: Carrying out air supervision and assistance is an important measure to do a good job in the prevention and control of air pollution in autumn and winter, what measures has the Ministry of Ecology and Environment taken this autumn and winter, and what are the good practices?

Pei Xiaofei:Thank you for your question. In the past 10 years, China's air quality has undergone historic changes, becoming the country with the fastest improvement in air quality in the world. However, in autumn and winter, due to the increase in the total emission of major air pollutants and unfavorable meteorological conditions, heavy pollution weather will still occur frequently in some regions.

In order to do a good job in the prevention and control of air pollution in autumn and winter, and effectively respond to heavy pollution weather, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment focuses on key areas, highlights the two tasks of "responding to heavy pollution weather and supervising emission standards", and coordinates the promotion of "online and offline" Since the autumn and winter of 2023, more than 2,400 backbone personnel of the national ecological environment system have been coordinated, more than 9,700 local law enforcement personnel have been mobilized, 8 rounds of on-site and remote supervision and assistance of air pollution have been carried out, more than 16,000 problematic enterprises have been discovered, and more than 32,000 gas-related environmental problems have been solved.

The first is on-site inspection to play a deterrent role. We dispatched the backbone of law enforcement and monitoring technology across the country, arranged 2 rounds of on-site supervision and assistance every month, and found that some enterprises had 4,254 problems such as fraud, excessive emissions, illegal discharge, and poor implementation of emission reduction measures in heavily polluted weather, including 537 violations of laws and regulations that interfered with automatic monitoring, falsified test reports, and forged ledger records, and 17 were transferred to justice, 25 were administratively detained, and 3 were criminally detained, maintaining the main tone of strict law enforcement.

The second is to push online to urge local inspections. Through remote push identification clues, more than 10,000 environmental problems were found and solved by local self-inspection. Drive local governments to establish and improve the working mechanism of linkage between the upper and lower levels, and gradually implement the main responsibility for ecological environmental protection and environmental quality improvement.

The third is to make good use of technology to accurately identify problems. We use satellite remote sensing, air quality monitoring network, automatic monitoring of pollution sources, electricity monitoring and other technical means, integrate all kinds of data information, build algorithm models, and accurately identify problem clues, and the current problem identification accuracy has reached more than 85%.

Supervision and assistance have played an important role in pollution reduction and environmental quality improvement, and it is preliminarily estimated that in 2023, supervision and assistance will promote a total of about 393,000 tons of pollutant emission reduction.

In the next step, we will take the response to heavy pollution weather as the top priority, continue to select business backbones to carry out on-site supervision and assistance, and supervise the implementation of various measures. At the same time, we should pay close attention to enterprises in key industries with high emission intensity and large pollution contributions, urge enterprises to implement the main responsibility of pollution control, and improve pollution control capabilities and compliance emission standards.

China News Service: The synergy of pollution reduction and carbon reduction is an important task to actively and steadily promote carbon peak and carbon neutrality. The National Conference on Ecological and Environmental Protection proposed to promote the synergy of pollution reduction and carbon reduction, and carry out multi-field and multi-level collaborative innovation pilots. What progress has been made in the synergy of pollution reduction and carbon reduction, and what are the next steps?

Sun Shouliang:Thank you for your question. This is a critical and hot question. I understand that this is because with the continuous intensification of pollution prevention and control, the quality of the ecological environment has improved to a critical juncture from quantitative to qualitative change. General Secretary Xi Jinping has given scientific guidance, emphasizing the need to maintain the strategic focus on the construction of ecological civilization and handle the "five major relationships", and emphasizing the need to achieve synergy in reducing pollution and carbon emissions as the general starting point for promoting the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development, and to promote carbon reduction, pollution reduction, green expansion and growth in a coordinated manner. We should deeply grasp the characteristics of environmental pollutants and carbon emissions with high roots and origins, reduce emissions from structural adjustment, technological innovation, and collaborative co-governance, and effectively give full play to the source traction role of carbon reduction actions in improving the quality of the ecological environment, and at the same time use the existing ecological environment system to promote low-carbon development, so that carbon reduction and pollution reduction complement each other, and achieve the effect of "1+1>2".

As you mentioned earlier, in July last year, the National Conference on Ecological and Environmental Protection made strategic arrangements for promoting synergy in pollution reduction and carbon reduction, and called for the development of multi-field and multi-level collaborative innovation pilots for pollution reduction and carbon reduction. The "Opinions on Comprehensively Promoting the Construction of a Beautiful China" further clarifies the relevant measures and arrangements for the synergy of pollution reduction and carbon reduction. These important deployments and requirements underscore the importance and urgency of this work. The Ministry of Ecology and Environment, in conjunction with relevant departments and localities, has made positive progress and achieved phased results in promoting synergies in pollution reduction and carbon reduction. The main aspects are as follows:

The first is to form a pattern of departmental cooperation and coordination between the upper and lower levels. Seven departments, including the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, jointly issued the "Implementation Plan for Synergy in Pollution Reduction and Carbon Reduction" to strengthen target coordination, regional coordination, field coordination, task coordination, policy coordination, and regulatory coordination. Formulate detailed implementation measures, clarify the responsible departments and expected results, and coordinate and promote synergy in key areas such as industry, transportation, urban and rural construction, agriculture, and ecological construction. Currently, 31 provinces(District, City)and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps have both issued synergistic work plans for pollution reduction and carbon reduction.

Second, the coordinated governance of pollution reduction and carbon reduction has been carried out in an all-round way and has achieved remarkable results. It can be said that the breadth and depth of collaborative governance are constantly strengthened and expanded, and the coverage is getting wider and wider. For example, we will vigorously promote the construction of large-scale wind power and photovoltaic base projects, promote the green development of the manufacturing industry, and increase the proportion of railways and water transportation; another example is to accelerate the development of new energy vehicles and develop green buildings; and for example, to promote the green transformation of the industry, and implement ultra-low emission transformation in the steel, cement, and coking industries. Especially in the field of ecology and environment, relying on the existing ecological environment management system, promote energy conservation and consumption reduction and resource utilization of sewage treatment, optimize the technical route of soil pollution remediation, encourage green and low-carbon restoration, organize the compilation of a list of air pollutants and greenhouse gases, condense the major scientific and technological needs of coordinated governance of pollution reduction and carbon reduction, carry out carbon monitoring and assessment, and promote the collaborative management of fixed emission sources, integrated supervision and law enforcement, etc. According to comprehensive estimates, in the decade from 2013 to 2022, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions decreased by 85% and 60% respectively, while carbon emission intensity decreased by 34.4%, which has been well confirmed.

Third, the atmosphere of reform and exploration, pilot and collaborative innovation is becoming stronger and stronger. The Ministry of Ecology and Environment has supported Zhejiang to build a collaborative innovation zone for pollution reduction and carbon reduction, and actively explored collaborative governance models, and Zhejiang has carried out innovative pilot projects in 6 districted cities, 17 counties and districts, and 38 parks in the province, and has achieved a number of practical results that can be replicated and promoted. Last year, Zhejiang integrated the concept and measures of synergy of pollution reduction and carbon reduction into the design and construction of the venues of the Hangzhou Asian Games, with 100% of all venues and office spaces supplied with green electricity, more than 2,000 service vehicles for the Games are new energy vehicles, and the recycling rate of materials has reached 50%, making the "Green Asian Games" a beautiful business card.

In the next step, we will focus on the main line of promoting the synergy of pollution reduction and carbon reduction, comprehensively carry out multi-field and multi-level collaborative innovation in pollution reduction and carbon reduction, support several beautiful landmark battles, and lay a solid foundation for the construction of a beautiful China. Key points: First, highlight the coordination of objectives and tasks, regional fields, policies and supervision, and explore a long-term mechanism for collaborative management of pollution reduction and carbon reduction; second, pay close attention to source control, coordinate the emission reduction requirements of various pollutants and greenhouse gases, and optimize the treatment process and technical route; third, accelerate the collaborative control of greenhouse gas emissions into relevant laws, regulations and policy standards, and promote the transformation of synergistic technological achievements; fourth, actively support all localities to carry out collaborative innovation pilots in regions, cities and industrial parks, and cultivate "experimental fields" for synergy in pollution reduction and carbon reduction. Recently, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) released the first batch of pilot projects for collaborative innovation in cities and industrial parks, including 21 cities and 43 parks. These pilots are widely distributed, diverse, and representative, involving steel, nonferrous metals, petrochemicals and other industries. In the follow-up pilot work, we will strengthen technical guidance, experience summary, and case promotion, and give full play to the demonstration and leading role of the pilot.

Cover News Reporter: Openness of government affairs is an important way to protect the people's right to know, participate, express and supervise the construction of a beautiful China, and it is an institutional arrangement to improve the modernization of the ecological and environmental governance system and governance capacity. What measures has the Ministry of Ecology and Environment taken to strengthen the openness of government affairs, how to unite social efforts for the construction of a beautiful China, and what are the next work arrangements?

Li Hongbing:Thank you for your question. As you said, open government affairs are an important way to protect the people's right to know, participate, express and supervise, and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment has always attached great importance to open government affairs and continuously improved the quality and effectiveness of open government affairs. Three measures have been taken to carry out open government affairs, focusing on providing convenience for the people to understand, support and participate in environmental protection, effectively enhance the people's satisfaction and sense of gain, and unite social forces for the construction of a beautiful China.

First, we should deepen the openness of government affairs by closely centering on the concerns of the people. We will continue to increase the disclosure of ecological and environmental quality, publish the air quality index of cities at and above the prefecture level, which is the familiar AQI, and the monitoring data of the national surface water state-controlled section automatic station every hour, publish the national and key regional ambient air quality forecasts every half month, publish the national ambient air quality status and surface water quality monthly report every month, publish the monitoring data of the surface water environmental quality status and seawater quality state-controlled points on a quarterly basis, and publish the bulletin on the state of China's ecological environment and the state of China's marine ecological environment every year. Continue to increase the release of ecological and environmental policies. Through the website of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and other channels, a total of 87 currently effective departmental rules have been released and dynamically updated, and the policy documents formulated by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment have been released in a centralized manner, so that the masses can know, understand and support the ecological and environmental policies, and also facilitate the implementation of the policies supervised by the masses.

Second, we need to deepen the openness of government affairs in an all-round way to build a beautiful China. Timely announce the results of the ecological environment system in the in-depth fight against pollution, and continue to release the progress of the three major battles to defend the blue sky, clear water and pure land, as well as the progress of solid waste and new pollutants. Actively announce the progress of the work related to the national voluntary greenhouse gas emission reduction trading, and release the first batch of pilot projects for collaborative innovation in pollution reduction and carbon reduction in cities and industrial parks. Disclose information on central ecological and environmental protection inspectors. Announced the list of seven batches of ecological civilization construction demonstration zones and "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" practice and innovation bases. The whole process of preparation, acceptance, review and approval of the EIA is made public, and the society actively accepts social supervision. Disclose the pollutant discharge permit and pollutant discharge registration information to the public through the national pollutant discharge permit management information platform. Promote the reform of the system of legal disclosure of environmental information, and guide more than 83,000 enterprises and institutions across the country to disclose environmental information in accordance with the law.

Third, we should deepen the openness of government affairs by focusing on broadening channels and improving effectiveness. Give full play to the role of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment's website and new media platforms for government affairs to improve the effectiveness of communication. In 2023, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment will publish more than 4,000 pieces of information on its website, with nearly 100 million page views, and more than 400 million views on the ministry's WeChat official account and Weibo. The website of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment has been built into an "online Ministry of Ecology and Environment", and the Ministry of WeChat and Weibo have been rated as "100 accounts with outstanding achievements in taking the online mass line". On the basis of open and objective information, we pay more attention to the interpretation of ecological and environmental policies, and accurately interpret the policy background and target measures through intuitive methods such as video animations, "one-picture reading", live interviews, data charts, etc., and explain and respond to professional issues in the field of ecological environment in depth and detail, so that information can be better obtained, policies can be better understood, and the public can better participate.

In the next step, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment will continue to adhere to the people-centered development philosophy and further do a good job in the open government affairs in the new era.

First, continue to optimize the openness of government affairs in accordance with laws and regulations. Strictly abide by laws and regulations such as ecological and environmental protection and open government information, and truly protect citizens' rights to know, participate, express and supervise the ecological environment.

Second, we will continue to expand the channels of disclosure, and improve the quality and effectiveness of information disclosure, policy interpretation, and response to concerns. It is convenient for the public to obtain and understand ecological and environmental policies and information in a more timely and convenient manner.

The third is to strengthen information management, strengthen interconnection, promote the construction of a large environmental protection pattern with open government affairs, and continue to gather social synergy for the construction of a beautiful China where man and nature coexist in harmony.

Pei Xiaofei:Thank you Director Sun Shouliang and Deputy Director Li Hongbing, thank you for your participation, this is the end of today's press conference, goodbye!