(BEIJING) China’s Environmental Protection Minister, Mr. Chen Jining, held a press conference at the State Council Information Office on February 18, 2016. He discussed the status of environmental protection in China for 2015 and responded to questions from domestic and foreign journalists.
Chen Jining:
I want to first talk about China’s environmental problems from three aspects: China’s environmental situation, the trends, and measures to address environmental problems.
Environmental problems are a common challenge facing all countries, not only China, especially when a country is industrializing and modernizing. Economic development, social progress and environmental protection are three pillars for sustainable development. Only by addressing environmental problems can a country realize sustainable development.
We are now focusing on environmental protection not because of pressure and criticism, but for China’s own benefit. China began to pay attention to environmental problems as early as the 1970s; for the past 4 decades, China has been exploring ways to balance development and environmental protection, and how best to address environmental problems. Environmental protection is one of China’s two basic national policies.
Over more than 30 years of reform and opening up, China’s rapid economic growth has brought about not only huge social change, but also many problems such as environmental degradation.
The government of China attaches great importance to environmental protection. The 18th National People’s Congress incorporated ecological civilization into the overall plan for promoting economic, political, cultural, social, and ecological progress; President Xi Jinping put forward new ideas and strategies related to environmental protection. All of these have accelerated the development of ecological civilization. The Action Plan on Air Pollution Prevention and Control came into force in 2013 and the Action Plan on Water Pollution Prevention and Control last April. Tough measures are needed to deal with tough challenges and much progress has been made in environmental protection during the 12th Five Year Plan.
I have some figures to give you an overall picture of the progress we have made in environmental protection.
In terms of end-of-pipe pollution prevention and control, by the end of 2015, China had the capacity to process 182 million tons of waste water per day, a substantial increase from 121 million tons in 2010 – putting us at the top globally. The installed capacity of coal-fired power plants equipped with desulfurization facilities increased from 530 million kilowatts to 890 million kilowatts, and the proportion of coal-fired power plants equipped with desulfurization facilities rose from 12% to 92%; the area of steel sintering machines equipped with desulfurization facilities went from 29,000 to 138,000 square meters, and the proportion of steel sintering machines equipped with desulfurization facilities increased from 19% to 88%. The capacity of new NSP cement production lines equipped with desulfurization facilities rose from zero to 1.6 billion tons, representing a proportion of 92%.
Turning now to fundamental pollution prevention and control, from 2011 to 2014, China cumulatively cut down coal-fired power generation by 23.65 million kilowatts, iron production by 77 million tons, steel production by 77 million tons, cement production by 600 million tons, paper production by 29 million tons, leather production by 32 million hides and dyed cloth by 10 billion meters. Our goal to phase out backward processes in major industries during the 12th Five Year Plan was reached one year ahead of schedule. In addition, industrial pollutant discharge decreased steadily. For example, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions from coal-fire plants went down by 47% and 50% respectively and in cumulative terms, and COD and ammonia nitrogen emitted per unit of industrial added value decreased by 42% and 50% respectively. We surpassed our goals to reduce COD, ammonia nitrogen, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide - four pollutants whose total emission was capped during China’s 12th Five Year Plan.
Frankly speaking, few countries can launch so many initiatives to address environmental pollution in such a short time as China can.
The public is concerned with the effectiveness of those measures. The most obvious is the alleviation of acid rain pollution. Around 2000, Chinese people were most concerned with acid rain, and not with PM 2.5 air pollution. China today is experiencing the least acid deposition in the last 20 years and this is attributable to our effective control of sulfur dioxide emissions. In addition, the percentage of V-grade water went down from 44% in 2001 to 9%, an 80% decrease.
China is improving its environment under circumstances that are different from developed countries. For example, it is only once developed countries had completed their urbanization process that the problem of PM 2.5 had to be solved. However, China faces this problem now, when it is still in the midst of rapid industrialization and urbanization. So the difficulty facing China is unprecedented. Still, some foreign media reported that pictures shot by American satellites showed that the concentration of PM 2.5 and nitrogen oxide has dropped significantly in North China.
Has China made enough efforts? Can we do better? How does China compare to other countries in terms of environmental protection efforts?
The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis postulates an inverted-U-shaped relationship between different pollutants and per capita income, which is to say that as the economy grows, pollutant emissions will increase gradually, peak when the urbanization process is completed and decline afterwards. The public is concerned with the timing of this turning point. China’s COD and sulfur dioxide emission peaked in 2007 when per capita GDP reached US$ 2,460, and ammonia nitrogen and nitrogen oxide in 2012 when per capita GDP reached US$ 6,076; while in the United States, sulfur dioxide emission peaked in 1974 when per capita GDP was US$ 7,242, and nitrogen oxide in 1994 when per capita GDP attained US$ 28,000. The turning points of pollutant emissions in China peaked much earlier than developed countries. I think there are two reasons for this: first, China can draw on the good experience of developed countries in environmental protection; second, our efforts in macro-pollution prevention and control have paid off.
China not only focuses on its own environmental problems, but also makes contributions to solving global environmental issues, such as climate change and the depletion of the ozone layer.
The international community is taking joint efforts to control ozone depleting substances (ODS). ODS phased out by China account for more than half of the total phased out in developing countries, making China one of the countries that made the greatest contributions to global ozone layer protection. We have done a lot in other global environmental issues as well, such as biodiversity protection and the management of persistent organic pollutants (POPs).
When recognizing achievements, we must see the big gap between China’s environmental situation and people’s expectations.
Serious environmental pollution, high environmental risks and great ecological loss are three features of China’s present environmental status. In 2015, 265 of the 338 cities at and above prefecture level nationwide did not meet our standards in terms of PM 2.5 concentration; for 23.3% of the year, PM 2.5 concentration exceeded those standards. Despite reducing the amount of water that is rated worse than V-Grade, we are still facing serious problems with black and putrid water in cities and eutrophication of lakes. We are facing great environmental pressure, but this is closely related to the development stage that China is going through.
China faces unprecedented environmental pressure while urbanizing on this scale at this speed, during such a short period of time. Since the global modernization process began 200 years ago, fewer than 30 countries completed industrialization with populations well under 1 billion; most of these are OECD countries. China is solving its environmental problems while rapidly developing its economy, a challenge much tougher and more complex than the one faced by developed countries. Rushing into action is not acceptable, nor is taking no action at all. We will make environmental improvement the top priority, implement consistent policies and the strictest environmental protection system; we are ready to make long-term efforts in addressing environmental problems. We will set goals for different stages, focusing on cracking the hardest nuts and solving environmental problems step by step.
I want to stress that since China’s modernization is an open process, so we will stay open while solving China’s environmental problems.
We have carried out international cooperation to draw on good international experience and advanced international technologies. As a country that is modernizing with a population of over 1.3 billion, China can share its experience in environmental protection with another 5 to 6 billion people that are also undergoing modernization. So the solution of environmental problems in China will benefit all human beings. Based on current trends, China will solve its environmental problems earlier, better and in a greener way than developed countries when they were in similar stages. And with this, I am ready to take your questions.
CCTV:
From the end of November to December, many cities in China were hit by long-lasting heavy air pollution with high PM 2.5 concentration. What do you think are the reasons for this?
Chen Jining:
Before the middle of November, pollution prevention and control work went very smoothly and environmental quality had substantially improved, with PM2.5 concentration down by more than 20% in Beijing. However, after the end of November when the heating season began, China experienced five successive bouts of long-lasting heavy air pollution, three of which occurred in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei. This offset much of the progress we had made in 2015.
There are three reasons for this heavy air pollution:
First, we encountered unfavorable weather conditions. Affected by a strong El Nino, last year's weather conditions were worse than previous years, in particular when the heating season began. There are three core factors influencing weather conditions. The first is the height of the atmospheric mixed layer. As you can see, the weather today is fairly good with the atmospheric mixed layer at 1000-1500 meters altitude. At the end of last year when heavy air pollution hit China, the height of the atmospheric mixed layer dropped substantially, reaching as low as some 100 meters during parts of the day. The pollutants accumulate much faster when the altitude of the atmospheric mixed layer is low. The second is humidity. PM2.5 is a secondary pollutant. The more humid the atmosphere is, the faster the pollutants react and produce PM 2.5. At the end of last year, the air humidity was very high, even reaching more than 90% at times, while the humidity in Beijing usually stays at 30% to 40%. The third is wind speed. The average wind speed last year was 5% slower than previous years. Under such weather conditions, the same amount of pollutants will produce more PM2.5. As the Chinese saying goes, only with personal efforts and the Heaven’s help can one succeed. We have made great efforts in reducing air pollution, but we didn’t get outside help this time with El Nino affecting the global climate.
Second, we have not taken special measures targeting air pollution in winter, particularly in the heating season. The measures we have taken help cut down the annual pollutant concentration, but are not very effective in the heating season. A reason for this is that pollutant emissions from raw coal burned for heating or cooking in households, restaurants and small industrial boilers are 5 to 10 times worse than those from coal-fired plants.
Third, we lack the capacity to deal effectively with heavy air pollution and issue an alert in a timely way. Several years ago, China began to experience heavy air pollution. We are exploring better ways to cope with this during the winter months, when the heating season starts and when there is widespread burning of crop residues in rural areas. A very important measure taken by MEP is to summon experts to fully analyze the causes of every outbreak of severe air pollution. The Party Central Committee and the State Council attach great importance to dealing with heavy air pollution. Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli chaired a meeting on how to solve air pollution problems in Beijing; MEP then held a meeting on addressing heavy air pollution in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei. Now we are taking measures from the following two perspectives: first, measures that should be taken before the end of this year’s heating season; second, measures to prevent heavy air pollution in the longer term, such as the measures to reduce pollutant emissions, to reduce pollution from coal burning by households, restaurants and small industrial boilers and from elevated sources, and to deal with emissions that exceed standards. We have issued a series of specific action plans which will help reduce the frequency and impact of heavy air pollution .
Phoenix Television:
I have two questions. One is about corruption in government agencies responsible for administrative approval. At the beginning of last year, the central inspection group investigated MEP and found that this problem was very serious in the areas of environmental services and technologies. You promised to fundamentally solve this problem at the press conference of the Third Plenary Session of the 12th National People’s Congress and the Second Plenary Session of the 12th CPPCC National Committee. What progress have you made? In addition, you mentioned that not enough measures have been taken targeting the smog in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei. So what measures will you take next step?
Chen Jining:
The public is very concerned with the problem of corruption in government agencies responsible for administrative approvals. I promised to finish decoupling from MEP the eight Environmental Impact Assessment agencies that fall under our mandate at the press conference last year. The decoupling I mean is a thorough one. Those eight EIA agencies have been severed from MEP in terms of their staff, assets and finance. We will establish a sound system to prevent a department from being both “an athlete and a referee”.
I am pleased to take this opportunity to tell you that by the end of last year, the eight EIA agencies have been thoroughly severed from the Ministry. We fulfilled that promise.
In addition, 140 EIA agencies nationwide have been decoupled from local governments at different levels. Another 200 EIA agencies will be decoupled later this year. This is an arduous and politically sensitive task that will affect some vested interests. Despite great pressure and obstacles ahead, we will not derogate from this task and we will complete it on schedule.
At the same time, we will deepen the reform of the EIA system. Due to time limits, I will not detail the reform here. However, we state unconditionally that we will solve the problem of corruption in government agencies responsible for administrative approvals.
As for your second question, we have taken five measures to address the smog in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei during this heating season.
First, we have strengthened the early warning of heavy air pollution. MEP launched a “2+4” initiative (2 represents Beijing and Tianjin, and 4 represents Baoding, Langfang, Tangshan and Cangzhou). Under this initiative, those six cities will adopt the same early warning and response standards by March 15 and take measures based on the highest pollution forecast. Early warnings of heavy air pollution depend on forecasts. Frankly speaking, we can make an accurate weather forecast for the coming 3 days, but when it comes to forecasting 5 days into the future or longer, weather forecasts are not so accurate. In the past, when we predicted something between serious pollution and heavy pollution, we usually took measures based on the median prediction; now we base our measures on the highest predicted concentration. Besides, we need to focus our efforts in areas with high frequency of heavy air pollution. For example, when North China is hit by air pollution, some cities in this region often experience the most serious air pollution. So early warning and emergency response should be strengthened in those cities
Second, strengthen the sharing of monitoring data. By the end of January 2016, the monitoring data in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei has been shared. Information sharing will help deal with heavy air pollution.
Third, reduce pollutant emissions from elevated sources. Pollutants emitted from smokestacks south of Beijing can travel a long distance and reach the city within hours, affecting all areas along its path. So more attention should be paid to pollutant emissions from elevated sources. The online monitoring systems of state owned companies in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei are required to be networked with MEP’s. In this way, MEP can have access to first-hand monitoring data from those companies and take action with companies when their emissions do not meet standards.
Fourth, strictly regulate motor vehicles. Many motor vehicles in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei do not meet emission standards, especially diesel powered vehicles. We will carry out spot inspections on car manufacturers and seriously punish those that manufacture diesel power vehicles that do not meet emission standards.
Fifth, carry out special inspection on rural industrial agglomerations in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei—what we call “rural industrial yards” in China—where highly polluting small factories are mostly located. We will close down the small factories that fail to meet emission standard by a set deadline.
As for long-term measures, we will focus on the following six aspects:
First, revise the Plan on Emergency Response to Heavy Air Pollution. For example, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area will adopt a unified early warning standard but take different measures based on local conditions.
Second, control pollution in major cities. Last year, a project was initiated to upgrade coal-fired power plants for minimum emissions.
Third, strengthen pollution prevention and control of industrial enterprises. We will explore the possibility of staggering the production of factories and charging differentiated and seasonal emission fees. For example, higher charges in the winter will guide factories to produce more in the summer and less in the winter, which many alleviate heavy pollution in winter.
Fourth, reduce the pollution from coal burning, in particular pollution from raw coal used by households, restaurants and small industrial boilers and from inferior-quality coal. Measures taken include replacing coal with electricity and gas for household heating. Households, restaurants and small industrial boilers in the inner cities of Beijing, Tianjin, Baoding, Langfang, Tangshan and Cangzhou are prohibited from burning coal for heating and cooking within two years.
Fifth, enhance the control of non-point source pollution. With the Plan on Forbidding Setting off Fireworks in place, emissions from fireworks are greatly reduced. Flying dust from construction sites is effectively controlled.
Sixth, increase investment in environmental protection.
MEP works with the Beijing government to outline 30 tasks for environmental protection in Beijing. Those 30 tasks are assigned to relevant departments and the governments of districts and counties in Beijing.
I want to stress the following five tasks:
First, reduce pollution from the burning of raw coal in restaurants, households and in small industrial boilers Coal will be replaced by clean energy in 400 villages on the outskirts of the municipality, and all coal-fired power plants will be phased out by the end of this year; eight districts in the inner city of Beijing will reach zero coal consumption by 2020.
Second, strengthen the regulation of motor vehicles, in particular heavy diesel powered vehicles. We are exploring the possibility of strengthening the limit on the use of heavy diesel powered cars when we are hit by heavy air pollution. The buses that only meet Phase I or Phase II pollution emission standards will be basically phased out by the end of 2018 and diesel powered vehicles that only meet Phase III will be retired from circulation by 2020. The emission limit and calculation methods will be revised and real-time monitoring of pollutants on roads carried out.
Third, deal with pollution from rural industrial agglomerations in Beijing and non-point source pollution. Pollution prevention and control in industrial agglomerations will be completed in four districts in southern Beijing by 2017, and across the entire municipality by 2018.
Fourth, strengthen emergency response management for heavy air pollution. Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei will take unified actions in response to heavy air pollution.
Fifth, enhance coordinated pollution prevention and control. The coordination mechanism will be improved and more “non-capital” functions relocated out of Beijing.
Lastly, ensure the fulfillment of responsibilities, including that of governments and enterprises. MEP will work with the Beijing municipal government to enhance prevention and control of heavy air pollution.
Reuter:
Many people say that MEP lacks the ability to fully enforce environmental laws while local protectionism is strong and state-owned enterprises are too powerful. How to solve this problem?
Chen Jining:
Violation of laws is quite a serious problem in environmental protection. There are two reasons for this: one is the old environmental laws and regulations are not tough enough, so the costs of complying with the laws are high while those of violating laws are low; and the other is intervention by local governments.
What we say is the strictest new Environment Protection Law came into force on January 1, 2015. MEP attaches great importance to enforcing this newly adopted law and endeavors to make compliance the new normal. MEP holds a seminar every two months to discuss the enforcement of this new law and points to what needs to be improved. The information on enforcement of the new statute is made public monthly.
What we have done in the following areas has achieved good results.
First, we ensure that local governments shoulder their environmental protection responsibilities. The Environmental Protection Law clearly states in Article Six that local governments should be responsible for local environment quality. We held talks with the officials who do not yet shoulder their responsibility in environmental protection. Last year, we talked with officials from 15 cities who are responsible for environmental issues. In addition, environmental protection departments at provincial level are required to talk with other local government departments.
MEP and China’s State Forestry Administration recently held talks with local departments. In addition, we conduct supervision of local governments. We have conducted comprehensive environmental inspections in 33 municipal regions and urged the provincial and regional environmental protection departments to inspect at least 30% of lower level governments. We hope to conclude the inspection of all prefecture-level cities within three years. Last year, environmental protection departments at different levels inspected 163 cities, met with officials in 31 cities, suspended approval of new projects in 20 cities and counties where serious environmental law violations happened, and supervised the handling of 176 lawsuits in an open manner. These measures are encouraging local governments to take their responsibilities and address some serious environment problems.
Second, we fully enforce the Environment Protection Law. Only by implementing the new law can it have “teeth”. By the end of last year, there were 715 cases where continuous daily fines were levied (environmental protection bureaus issued corrective orders and fines to violators and, beginning the day after the corrective order is issued, collected a fine for each day the violation continues, based on the original penalty amount). The total fines levied were 569 million yuan; 97,000 administrative violation orders were issued with a total penalty of 4.25 billion yuan, an increase of 34% over 2014. In addition, MEP has made public 74 cases where violators have been pursued. These efforts are unprecedented.
Third, we have enhanced the coordination between administrative and criminal enforcement. Last year, MEP joined hands with the Ministry of Public Security and the Supreme People's Procuratorate for the first time to supervise the public prosecution in two pollution cases: One is about a chemical plant dumping hazardous wastes in a landfill, and the other about a waste water treatment plant falsifying environmental data. Nationwide, 2,079 administrative and 1,685 criminal cases were referred to police and the courts for investigation and prosecution.
Fourth, we have carried out comprehensive environmental inspections. In 2015, we investigated 1.77 million violations, found 191,000 companies that had violated the law, shut down 20,000 plants, ordered 34,000 firms to stop production and notified 89,000 units of their deadline to meet set standards.
The measures taken this past year have produced positive results, enhancing compliance and putting more pressure on local governments and enterprises. But there is still a long way to go to realize 100% compliance. There still exist four serious problems:
Firstly, environmental orders are not well transmitted from one administrative level to lower ones,, particularly at the county level. Measures need to be taken to ensure local governments fulfill their responsibilities.
Second, there is poor coordination among departments. All government departments in a region, not just environmental protection departments, are responsible for environmental protection. Only when all of them meet their obligations can environmental problems be solved.
Third, enterprises are not complying. Despite fines and prosecutions, many enterprises still violate our laws. During the 13th Five-Year Plan, we will issue an order forcing industries to meet environmental standards before discharging pollutants.
Finally, we need more surveillance from citizens and from the media to protect the environment. One of this year’s priorities is to promote corporate environmental information disclosure. Many companies are disclosing information, but this is incomplete, and in some cases the information released is substandard. The new Environment Protection Law came into force last year; the new Air Pollution Prevention and Control Law was enacted in January this year. With those two new statutes in place, we can further enforce compliance. We hope that our continuous efforts will provide an enabling environment for legal compliance and enforcement, for the rise of law abiding enterprises and for local government that fulfill their responsibilities.
The interference from some local governments is indeed a serious problem. As you may know, the Fifth Plenary Session of 18th CPC Central Committee decreed the implementation of a vertical accountability system for the monitoring, supervision and law enforcement agencies below provincial level. This is a significant reform aimed at fixing our existing fragmented accountabilities and establishing systemic and effective environmental monitoring. The local governments usually focus on economic development while ignoring environmental protection, and intervene in the monitoring, supervision and law enforcement, which leads to laws that are flouted and violators that go unpunished. I believe this vertical accountability system will help solve those problems.
We have four major goals to reach with the implementation of this system:
First, help local governments to better fulfill their responsibilities.
Second, deal with local protectionism and local interference with environmental monitoring, supervision and law enforcement.
Third, better address environmental problems in cross-regional river basins.
Fourth, strengthen the development of local monitoring and law enforcement teams.
We do not have sufficient law enforcement staff in China and they face lots of problems. In some cases our investigators have been beaten or sequestered by enterprises; some of our staff don’t even have uniforms and equipment for their daily work. So we need to strengthen the capacity of our law enforcement teams.
I believe that with these policy implementation and institutional reforms, the problems in law enforcement and compliance will gradually be solved.
China Radio International:
The timing of when a red alert is issued and then lifted in the three recent instances of heavy air pollution has been questioned by the public. How will MEP improve its emergency response mechanism for heavy air pollution?
Chen Jining:
The first step involved in the early warning is the forecast, which is a scientific issue; however, whether or not to issue an alert is an administrative decision.
Weather forecasts are not 100% correct. Generally speaking, the 3-day weather forecast is accurate, but for anything longer, the probability of error is greater. Forecasting error is permissible but what is not allowed is to take no action when serious air pollution is forecast. Last year in Beijing, there was a rare case when the air was first heavily polluted, then became moderately polluted and finally once again became heavily polluted. MEP has an internal mechanism where experts and relevant departments analyze air pollution in different regions so as to improve the forecast and early warning system.
MEP will take the following four measures to strengthen its capacity to deal with heavy air pollution.
First, we will issue timely alerts. We will issue alerts based on the highest pollution forecast and remind the public to protect themselves. The major measures we take when heavy air pollution appears are aimed at alleviating pollution and lowering the pollutant peaks, which cannot eliminate heavy air pollution. It is only the daily emission reduction that can fundamentally solve the problem of heavy air pollution.
Second, we are establishing unified early warning grading standards for major areas, which will help deal with forecasting error.
Third, we will take evidence-based, targeted and effective measures. When an alert is issued, we need to make our emergency-response measures more targeted and effective, while incurring minimal social costs. We are now taking every opportunity to identify pollution sources, so our measures are better targeted and science-based, and we are clarifying various responsibilities for issuing alerts, namely who issues it, when do they do it, and how they are to issue an alert.
Fourth, we will improve our forecasting capability. We are now making efforts in the following two areas: Government agencies that report to MEP, research institutions, universities, the municipalities of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong that have better forecasting expertise are to share information with other localities in order to improve their forecasts. And technological innovations such as the use of big data will be applied to improve forecasting, such as improving 5 and 7-day forecast accuracy. Improving forecasting capacity is one of MEP’s priorities.
Tower News Agency:
Russia and China share a border of more than 4,000 km and there exist many environmental protection problems in this vast border area. What do you think is the most important in China-Russia cooperation at the present and in the future?
Chen Jining:
Environmental problems are faced by all countries. Some of them, such as climate change and ozone layer depletion can only be solved through international cooperation.
The Chinese government attaches great importance to international cooperation, which is reflected in the following aspects:
First, we have initiated the “One Belt and One Road” and “Going Global” initiatives , which will help share China’s experience in environmental protection. The “Going global” initiative is a green one, and EIAs will be carried out for all “Going Global” projects.
Second, we will fulfill our international obligations and duties. The Chinese government has signed more than 30 multilateral conventions related to environmental protection, including the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer, the Montreal Protocol etc. We will strengthen our implementation of those conventions.
Third, we will establish multilateral cooperation mechanisms. China has cooperation with more than 60 international organizations and nations in environmental protection. We have an annual China-Russia dialogue between environmental ministers. Last year it was held in Beijing and this year will be in Russia. Our cooperation is extensive, covering solid waste, cross-border pollution transfers and biodiversity. As for multilateral cooperation, there are established dialogues, such as the China-Japan-South Korea dialogue, the Sino-US dialogue between environmental ministers, and the dialogue between BRICKS’ environment ministers. Last year, the BRICKS’ environment ministers dialogue was held for the first time in Russia. These mechanisms play an important role in promoting communication and sharing valuable experience.
Finally, we will strengthen South-South cooperation. We have provided much aid to developing countries, such as staff training and technological transfer, to help them better handle various environmental problems as they undergo development.
International cooperation is an important part of China’s “Going Global” initiative and green development. China will join hands with other countries to address environment problems.
(This English version is for your reference only.In case any discrepancy exists between the Chinese and English context, the Chinese version shall prevail.)