What are China's new green targets?

China on Sunday issued a set of guidelines for accelerating a comprehensive green transition in all economic and social sectors, unveiling the country's first systematic deployment of green targets.

The 33-point guidelines released by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council stressed the main objectives: By 2030, the country will achieve "remarkable results" in green transition in all areas of economic and social development and by 2035, a green, low-carbon and circular development economic system will be basically established and the goal of Beautiful China will be basically achieved.

Read more: Why China's guidelines on green transition are necessary

"A prominent feature of this document is the word 'comprehensive,'" said Liu Qiong, director of the National Energy Conservation Center of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

Comprehensive green transition means integrating the requirements of green transition into the overall economic and social development and promoting green transition at all fronts and in all fields and regions, Liu pointed out.

It will help further shape China's new development advantages and create a more globally competitive modern economic system for the country, he added.

The guidelines also put forward quantitative work goals for different fields. By 2030, the scale of the energy conservation and environmental protection industry in the country will reach about 15 trillion yuan (about $2.1 trillion), the proportion of non-fossil energy will increase to about 25 percent of energy consumption, and the installed capacity of pumped storage hydropower will exceed 120 million kilowatts.

Building world-class green industrial clusters

To achieve these goals, the guidelines proposed for the first time to build "world-class green and low-carbon industrial clusters" in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) and the Yangtze River Delta region.

"There are existing green and low-carbon industrial clusters in the GBA and the Yangtze River Delta region, such as energy-saving and environmental protection industries, new energy vehicle industry and clean energy industry," Liu said.

The official said the GBA and the Yangtze River Delta region should build on their strengths and further develop industrial clusters as they have a distinct export-oriented economy, a solid industrial foundation and a full-fledged industrial chain.

On accelerating the development of digitalization and green transformation, the guidelines urged efforts to expand the application of artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing and industrial internet in power systems, industrial and agricultural production, transportation and construction to realize green transition powered by digital technology.

Enterprises are also encouraged to employ green and smart technologies to transform and upgrade traditional industries, it noted.

Green consumption

The guidelines also for the first time made systematic deployment on green consumption, saying the country will boost green consumption by expanding the scope and scale of government procurement of green products, promoting trade-in programs to boost consumer spending on green products, and carrying out marketing campaigns for new energy vehicles and green home appliances in rural regions.

According to the guidelines, the government procurement policy will be optimized to include more green products. Localities and enterprises are encouraged to offer more incentives to boost trade-in programs and the sales of green products.

For the supply side, the guidelines mentioned green design, green materials, green manufacturing, green packaging, green logistics and recycling will be advocated among enterprise to reduce energy and material consumption and mitigate the ecological impact.

The guidelines also call for efforts to improve the incentive mechanism for green consumption and strengthen certification management for green products and services, which entails deepening institutional reforms to further stimulate the vitality of green consumption, said Liu.

(Cover: Aerial photo shows the island of Hengqin in south China's Guangdong Province, July 1, 2024. /CFP)