424
X. Zhang
with it tremendous historical opportunities. There are two important norms to define
an “industrial revolution,” namely revolutionary changes in energy and information
communication. The Paris Agreement of 2015 commits to holding the increase in
the global average temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels by
the middle of the twenty-first century, for the achievement of which the world will
comprehensively stop the use of fossil energies around 2050 and promote the global
use of renewable energies. The three basic scientific discoveries of the twentieth
century will lead to unimaginable inventions and creations, particularly subversive
technologies, in the first half of the twenty-first century. Revolution in information
and communication technologies is self-evident in comparison to the previous two
industrial revolutions, as the Internet, IoT, big data, cloud computing, AI and 5G are
dramatically changing the way we produce and live worldwide. As to energy, the first
industrial revolution was powered by steam, the second one by electricity. It seems
that the transformation from automation to intelligentization, which some western
organizations call a new round of industrial revolution, is too short in time and too
narrow in scope for that term. Besides, we believe there is one important criterion
for the “third industrial revolution” that the west has neglected or internationally
avoided. The first two industrial revolutions were led by developed European and
American countries while the developing countries were just followers, some even
being reduced to colonies and suffering from serious exploitation. In contrast, the new
industrial revolution is led by both oriental and western countries, with developing
countries and emerging economies displaying robust momentum and vitality and
engaging in and leading the movement even more deeply.
Therefore, the so-called third industrial revolution should be more objectively
defined in four aspects—green ecology, energy, information and communication
technology, and multi-polarization of global leaders. China has not only revealed
first that ecological civilization is the direction of the twenty-first century, but also
successively come to the fore in all those four aspects. How to grab the historical
opportunities during this civilization transition driven by sci-tech revolution and stay
in a leading position—this is vital for China in implementing the strategy and path
of ecological civilization.
2. Circular economy and sharing economy are important roads to change the
production mode and consumption pattern in ecological civilization
The report of the 18th CPC National Congress pointed out, “to move toward ecological civilization and achieve green transformation and development, we must change
of production mode and consumption pattern.” To put it briefly, production mode and
consumption pattern in ecological civilization should make five important shifts—
from fossil fuel to renewable energy, from economic capital to natural capital, from
resource exploitation to sustainable utilization, from carbon-intensive to carbonsensitive development, and fundamentally from the traditional development mode
featuring massive input, massive use of resources and massive consumption to the
production mode and consumption pattern featuring low energy consumption, circularity and renewability. The green shift and green growth of economy will bring
X. Zhang
with it tremendous historical opportunities. There are two important norms to define
an “industrial revolution,” namely revolutionary changes in energy and information
communication. The Paris Agreement of 2015 commits to holding the increase in
the global average temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels by
the middle of the twenty-first century, for the achievement of which the world will
comprehensively stop the use of fossil energies around 2050 and promote the global
use of renewable energies. The three basic scientific discoveries of the twentieth
century will lead to unimaginable inventions and creations, particularly subversive
technologies, in the first half of the twenty-first century. Revolution in information
and communication technologies is self-evident in comparison to the previous two
industrial revolutions, as the Internet, IoT, big data, cloud computing, AI and 5G are
dramatically changing the way we produce and live worldwide. As to energy, the first
industrial revolution was powered by steam, the second one by electricity. It seems
that the transformation from automation to intelligentization, which some western
organizations call a new round of industrial revolution, is too short in time and too
narrow in scope for that term. Besides, we believe there is one important criterion
for the “third industrial revolution” that the west has neglected or internationally
avoided. The first two industrial revolutions were led by developed European and
American countries while the developing countries were just followers, some even
being reduced to colonies and suffering from serious exploitation. In contrast, the new
industrial revolution is led by both oriental and western countries, with developing
countries and emerging economies displaying robust momentum and vitality and
engaging in and leading the movement even more deeply.
Therefore, the so-called third industrial revolution should be more objectively
defined in four aspects—green ecology, energy, information and communication
technology, and multi-polarization of global leaders. China has not only revealed
first that ecological civilization is the direction of the twenty-first century, but also
successively come to the fore in all those four aspects. How to grab the historical
opportunities during this civilization transition driven by sci-tech revolution and stay
in a leading position—this is vital for China in implementing the strategy and path
of ecological civilization.
2. Circular economy and sharing economy are important roads to change the
production mode and consumption pattern in ecological civilization
The report of the 18th CPC National Congress pointed out, “to move toward ecological civilization and achieve green transformation and development, we must change
of production mode and consumption pattern.” To put it briefly, production mode and
consumption pattern in ecological civilization should make five important shifts—
from fossil fuel to renewable energy, from economic capital to natural capital, from
resource exploitation to sustainable utilization, from carbon-intensive to carbonsensitive development, and fundamentally from the traditional development mode
featuring massive input, massive use of resources and massive consumption to the
production mode and consumption pattern featuring low energy consumption, circularity and renewability. The green shift and green growth of economy will bring