The Chinese Premier Li Keqiang delivered a Report on the Work of the Government on behalf of the State Council at the opening meeting of the first session of the 14th National People’s Congress.

I. Review of the Past Year and the Past Five Years’ Work

In the past year, the quality of the ecological environment has continued to improve.

Over the past five years, the ecological environment has improved significantly.

• • Energy consumption per unit of GDP fell by 8.1% and carbon dioxide emissions by 14.1%.
  • The average concentration of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in cities at the prefecture level and above fell by 27.5%, the number of heavily polluted days dropped by more than 50%, and the proportion of good surface water bodies nationwide rose from 67.9% to 87.9%.
  • The first national parks were established, and more than 9,000 nature reserves of various types and levels were set up.
  • The construction of beautiful China has taken significant steps forward

II. The Main Work Done in the Past Five Years

Strengthen ecological environmental protection and promote green and low-carbon development.

Adhere to the concept that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets, improve the system of ecological civilization, handle the relationship between development and protection, and continuously enhance the capacity for sustainable development.

Strengthen pollution control and ecological construction

• • Insist on precise, scientific and legal treatment of pollution, and thoroughly promote pollution prevention and control.
  • Focusing on the synergistic treatment of multiple pollutants and joint regional prevention and control, the ratio of good air quality days in cities at prefecture level and above reached 86.5%, an increase of 4 percentage points.
  • The basic elimination of black smelly water bodies in cities at the prefectural level and above, and promote the prevention and control of pollution in important rivers, lakes and near-shore waters.
  • Increase efforts to prevent, control and repair soil pollution risks, and strengthen solid waste and new pollutant management.
  • Comprehensively delineate the red line for the protection of arable land and permanent basic farmland, the red line for ecological protection and urban development boundaries.
  • Insist on the integrated protection and systematic management of mountains, water, forests, lakes, grasses and sands, implement a number of major ecological projects, and fully implement the system of river and lake lengths and forest lengths. The 10-year ban on fishing in key waters of the Yangtze River basin implemented in depth.
  • Strengthen the protection of biodiversity. Improve the ecological protection compensation system. The forest coverage rate and wetland protection rate reached over 24% and 50% respectively, while soil erosion, desertification and sandy land areas were reduced by a net 106,000, 38,000 and 33,000 square kilometres respectively. The people are increasingly enjoying blue skies, white clouds and green water and green mountains.
    Steady promotion of energy conservation and carbon reduction
  • Coordinate the safe and stable supply of energy with green and low-carbon development, and promote carbon peaking and carbon neutral in a scientific and orderly manner.
  • Optimise the energy structure, achieve ultra-low emission coal power units of over 1.05 billion kilowatts, increase the scale of installed renewable energy from 650 million kilowatts to over 1.2 billion kilowatts, and increase the proportion of clean energy consumption from 20.8% to over 25%.
  • Strengthen resource conservation efforts, develop green industries and circular economy, and promote the research and development and application of energy-saving and environmental protection technologies and products.
  • Strengthen financial support for green development. Improve the way energy consumption is assessed. Actively participated in international cooperation to address climate change and made Chinese contributions to promote global climate governance.

III. This Year’s Work

Main expected targets for development in 2023

Continued decline in energy consumption per unit of GDP and emissions of major pollutants, focus on controlling fossil energy consumption, and stable improvement in ecological and environmental quality.

Key tasks for 2023

Promote the green transformation of development:
Deepen the prevention and control of environmental pollution. Strengthen the construction of urban and rural environmental infrastructure and continue to implement major projects to protect and restore important ecosystems. Promote the clean and efficient use of coal and technology research and development and accelerate the construction of a new energy system. Improve policies to support green development, develop a circular economy, promote the economical and intensive use of resources, promote energy conservation and carbon reduction in key areas, and continue to fight the battle for blue sky, blue water and clean soil.