Significant Improvement in China’s Ecological Environment

By CHEN ZHANGYU

Climate change is a serious challenge confronting all of humanity. China has always adhered to the green and low-carbon development path， actively responding to climate change. Since 2015， the country has successively implemented action plans of air， soil， water pollution prevention and control， and launched a tough battle against pollution in 2018. With the increasing investment in new energy， optimization of the energy structure， and continuous improvement of environmental governance， Chinas ecological environment has improved significantly in recent years.

China attaches great importance to new， renewable energy and has continuously increased investment in new energy over the past decade. From 2010 to 2019， Chinas investment in new energy reached US $818 billion， leading the world， surpassing that of the U.S.， Japan， and Germany combined. At the same time， Chinas renewable energy installed capacity accounts for 30 percent of the worlds total， accounting for 44 percent of the global increase， and new energy vehicle ownership accounts for more than half of the worlds.

The energy production structure continues to improve. With the continuous deepening of structural coal capacity reduction， primary energy such as wind energy， solar energy， and nuclear energy has gradually become an important force bolstering Chinas energy production. In recent years， the rapid growth of primary energy construction has increased the proportion of primary power in Chinas total energy production from 7. 7 percent in 2000 to 18 percent in 2018. The energy consumption structure has also been continuously optimized to constantly improve energy efficiency. The proportion of non-fossil fuel based energy in Chinas primary energy consumption has increased year by year. In 2019， Chinas non-fossil energy accounted for 15.3 percent of energy consumption， an increase of one percentage point from 2018. The energy consumption per unit of GDP has also continued to decline. In 2019， Chinas energy consumption per unit of GDP fell by 2.6 percent.

China has solidly implemented the action plan to address soil pollution. Green area coverage has expanded， desertification control has achieved remarkable results， and the quality of cultivated land has improved. So far， Chinas forested area has reached 220 million hectares， with a forest coverage rate of 22.96 percent. After decades of unremitting efforts， China had brought under control over 2.26 million hectares of desertified land and rejuvenated 250，000 hectares of land from stony desertification by 2019. The desertified land in western， northern， and northeastern China has decreased by 1，183 square kilometers on average annually. The Beijing-Tianjin Sandstorm Source Control Project has built six ecological protection forest belts in Inner Mongolia， Shaanxi， Hebei， and Beijing. In addition， the decline in the average grade of cultivated land nationwide and the increase in the proportion of high-quality cultivated land also indicate that land quality has improved. With an average increase of one grade in the basic fertility of cultivated land， it is possible to increase grain production capacity by more than 80 million tons by 2020.

China has been devoted to accelerating the improvement of air quality in recent years. At present， Chinas air quality is constantly improving. Carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP in 2018 decreased by 45.8 percent compared with 2005， which is equivalent to a reduction of 5.26 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions. In 2019， the figure decreased by 4.1 percent year-on-year from 2018. From January to May 2020， all the 337 cities at the prefecture level and above in China reported an average good air quality day ratio of 84.9 percent， an increase of 4.6 percentage points year-on-year； 145 cities met the ambient air quality standards， an increase of 27 year-on-year. The PM2.5 concentration was 39 micrograms per cubic meter， a year-on-year decrease of 11. 4 percent.

China has intensified its efforts to address water pollution， and has made remarkable achievements in water quality improvement. According to data released by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment， in the first five months of 2020， among the 1，940 national surface water assessment sections， the proportion of sections with good water quality （category I-III） was 80. 7 percent， a year-on-year increase of six percentage points， a significant increase of 16.2 percentage points over 2015. The proportion of category inferior V sections is only 1. 4 percent， a year-on-year decrease of 3.5 percentage points， and a significant decrease of 7. 4 percentage points from 2015.