The press center for the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) hosts a press conference on the topic "Building A Beautiful China Where Humanity and Nature Co-Exist in Harmony" in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 21, 2022. Zhai Qing, vice minister of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, attended the press conference. (Photo:Xinhua)

China's ecological and environmental protection has seen sweeping, historic and transformative changes. It has become the nation with the fastest progress in air quality improvement in the past decade, Zhai Qing, vice minister of ecology and environment, said during a press conference held on Friday on the sidelines of the ongoing 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

The concept that clean water and green mountains are just as valuable as gold and silver has taken roots in people's hearts, leading to China's great achievements in energy conservation, carbon reduction and emissions cut, according to Zhai.

In the past decade, "China has managed to support an annual economic growth of 6.6 percent on average, with a yearly increase of 3 percent in energy consumption," Zhai said. 

Major cities across China have seen their average PM2.5 concentration dropping to 30 micrograms per cubic meter in 2021, from 46 micrograms per cubic meter in 2015. China has become the nation with the fastest progress in air quality improvement, according to Zhai.

And 84.9 percent of the country's surface water reached Grade III quality or above in 2021, which has become very close to the levels seen in developed countries, he noted.

China has made unprecedented achievements in Beautiful China Initiative. China has made building a more beautiful country as one of the objectives for building a great modern socialist country. Meanwhile, China has strengthened ecological and environmental protection in an all-round way.

Crested ibises fly in the sky in Zhaigou Village, Ningshan County of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Oct. 10, 2022. In recent years, Ningshan County has made great efforts in ecological protection and green development, with local forest coverage rate reaching 96.24 percent and the population of crested ibises, giant pandas and golden snub-nosed monkeys growing.(Photo: Xinhua)

 
In 2021, the average concentration of PM2.5 in cities at the prefecture level and above decreased by 34.8 percent from 2015, and days with good air quality reached 87.5 percent, Zhai said.

Zhao also said that China has completely banned "foreign garbage" imports and has realized the goal of zero imports of solid waste. 

China has solved a large number of prominent ecological and environmental problems affecting people's lives in the past decade. Besides pollution control, 300 species of rare and endangered wild animals and plants have recovered their populations in biodiversity protection achievement.

China's carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP in 2021 decreased by 34.4 percent from the 2012 level, and the share of coal use in its primary energy consumption accounted for 56 percent in 2021, compared with 68.5 percent in 2012, according to Zhai.

Zhai noted that China has outpaced other countries in terms of renewable energy development and the production and sales of new-energy vehicles.

Global Times