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X. Zheng
before 2030. The second is to develop a green economic system and put in place
market mechanisms and policy systems conducive to the development of the environmental protection industry, including improving environmental legislation and
law enforcement systems, refining the property rights system and use control system
for natural resource assets, implementing the system of paid use for natural resources
and ecological compensation system, and reforming environmental protection and
management system. In line with principles of “paid use of resources” and “polluter
pays,” resource taxes will be gradually extended to all kinds of natural resources
and spaces. A market for environment protection will be developed, where a trading
system for pollution discharge, carbon emissions, and water rights will be established,
and a market mechanism will be put in place to attract private capital investments
into environmental protection. The system of third-party environmental rectification
will be implemented. In addition, China will create a market-based system for green
technology innovation, develop green finance, and spur the development of energysaving and environmental protection industries as well as clean production and clean
energy industries, so as to gradually develop the environmental protection sector into
a pillar industry. According to estimates, the output value of China’s green economy
totaled about RMB 6 trillion in 2018 and is expected to reach RMB 12 trillion by
2025, accounting for approximately 8% of the country’s GDP, and that rate will
surpass 10% by 2035.
The 14th Five-Year Plan should combine green transformation with urbanization.
With rapid advances in urbanization, China’s urbanization rate will grow from 59.6%
in 2018 to around 80% by 2035, indicating that 280 million people will move from
the countryside to cities in the next seventeen years. During the 14th Five-Year Plan
period, more than 13 million rural people are expected to cities every year. The largest
scale of urbanization ever known in human history is not only changing the mode
of production and lifestyle of millions of Chinese people but also having significant
impact on the global economy. According to the requirements for integrated urban–
rural development, we should continuously optimize the urban structure and layout,
stick to the development path of green, resource-conserving, and smart cities, and
make urbanization a powerful driving force of economic growth. We will advance
the development of three city clusters including the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region,
the Yangtze River Delta, and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area
and make them three engines of national economic development. We will boost the
development of secondary city clusters centred on provincial capitals, enabling them
to fuel the growth of the provincial economy. We will highlight the construction of
signature towns centred on county seats in a bid to vitalize the rural areas. In addition, urbanization will prompt the development of the green construction market.
According to the 13th Five-Year Plan for the Development of Building Energy Efficiency and Green Building issued by the Ministry of Housing and Urban–Rural
Development, the proportion of green buildings in new buildings in urban areas will
increase from 20% in 2015 to 50% in 2020, and energy-saving residential buildings
will account for more than 60% of existing urban residential buildings by then.
China will learn green and sustainable development technology and experience
from developed counties. The EU’s total carbon emissions peaked in the 1980s. In
X. Zheng
before 2030. The second is to develop a green economic system and put in place
market mechanisms and policy systems conducive to the development of the environmental protection industry, including improving environmental legislation and
law enforcement systems, refining the property rights system and use control system
for natural resource assets, implementing the system of paid use for natural resources
and ecological compensation system, and reforming environmental protection and
management system. In line with principles of “paid use of resources” and “polluter
pays,” resource taxes will be gradually extended to all kinds of natural resources
and spaces. A market for environment protection will be developed, where a trading
system for pollution discharge, carbon emissions, and water rights will be established,
and a market mechanism will be put in place to attract private capital investments
into environmental protection. The system of third-party environmental rectification
will be implemented. In addition, China will create a market-based system for green
technology innovation, develop green finance, and spur the development of energysaving and environmental protection industries as well as clean production and clean
energy industries, so as to gradually develop the environmental protection sector into
a pillar industry. According to estimates, the output value of China’s green economy
totaled about RMB 6 trillion in 2018 and is expected to reach RMB 12 trillion by
2025, accounting for approximately 8% of the country’s GDP, and that rate will
surpass 10% by 2035.
The 14th Five-Year Plan should combine green transformation with urbanization.
With rapid advances in urbanization, China’s urbanization rate will grow from 59.6%
in 2018 to around 80% by 2035, indicating that 280 million people will move from
the countryside to cities in the next seventeen years. During the 14th Five-Year Plan
period, more than 13 million rural people are expected to cities every year. The largest
scale of urbanization ever known in human history is not only changing the mode
of production and lifestyle of millions of Chinese people but also having significant
impact on the global economy. According to the requirements for integrated urban–
rural development, we should continuously optimize the urban structure and layout,
stick to the development path of green, resource-conserving, and smart cities, and
make urbanization a powerful driving force of economic growth. We will advance
the development of three city clusters including the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region,
the Yangtze River Delta, and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area
and make them three engines of national economic development. We will boost the
development of secondary city clusters centred on provincial capitals, enabling them
to fuel the growth of the provincial economy. We will highlight the construction of
signature towns centred on county seats in a bid to vitalize the rural areas. In addition, urbanization will prompt the development of the green construction market.
According to the 13th Five-Year Plan for the Development of Building Energy Efficiency and Green Building issued by the Ministry of Housing and Urban–Rural
Development, the proportion of green buildings in new buildings in urban areas will
increase from 20% in 2015 to 50% in 2020, and energy-saving residential buildings
will account for more than 60% of existing urban residential buildings by then.
China will learn green and sustainable development technology and experience
from developed counties. The EU’s total carbon emissions peaked in the 1980s. In