2014 China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED) Annual Meeting was held in Beijing on December 1-3 with the topic of “Management and Institutional Innovation in Green Development”. Zhang Gaoli, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, vice premier of the State Council and the president of China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development, attended the opening ceremony and made a keynote speech. Zhou Shengxian, minister of environmental protection department, vice executive president of China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development hosted the opening ceremony. Mr. Kent, congressman of Canada, former minister of environmental protection department and vice executive president of China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development reported the resolutions of policy for Chinese government on behalf on the council. Li Ganjie, vice minister of environmental protection department, secretary general of the council introduced works done in 2014 and working plan for 2015. Nearly 180 people including delegates from home and abroad of the council and Peter Bakker, president of WBCSD and observer such as CBCSD participated in the conference.

Zhou Shengxian delivered a speech named Establishing the Four Beams and Eight Pillars of Ecological Civilization Construction and Environmental Protection to Adapt to the New Normal. Xie Zhenhua, deputy director of the NDRC and vice president of CCICED made a speech named Strength System to Promote Green Circular Development. Mr. Steiner, vice secretary general of the UN, executive director of the UNEP and vice president of the CCICED also made a speech. Mr. Hansen, the foreign chief counsel, former chairman of the Canadian Sustainable Development Institution introduced the 2014 Key Issue Report – Tipping Point to Turning Point.

Besides, discussions have been carried out among experts and delegates including Evaluation and Prospect of China’s Green Transformation Process, Innovation on Environmental Protection Policy against Ecological Civilization Construction, Urban Development Mode and System against Ecological Civilization, Innovation on Ecological Protection Red Line, Effective Evaluation of Air Pollution Control and Mechanism of Regional Coordination, Auditing System of Government Environment etc. so as to formulate policy suggestions to Chinese government.

This year’s meeting was divided into two topics: first, system innovation of ecological civilization, second, green transformation and prospect of China.

Report on Policy Research Project and Policy Suggestions

Subject 1: Evaluation and Prospect of China’s Green Transformation

1. Realizing a rebalance between investment and consumption through policy adjustment and reformation so as to curb over investment and over production capacity; and ease the burden of excessive consumption of energy and air pollution.
2. Adopting reforms in fiscal and financial sector and improve the income distribution so as to extend the coverage of social security to the whole society.
3. Promoting the transform of government functions and reducing government investment to increase the expenditure on public service and social security.
4. Collecting high resource tax on fossil energy such as coal and petroleum, and collecting environment tax on electricity and automobile. The government could use the tax collected to protect the environment.
5. Adjusting the trend of the supplier focused to receiver focused in the renewable energy sector, including change the subsidized producer to subsidized consumer and solve the problem of new energy internet access.
6. Establishing an energy efficient city and promoting green building is critical in controlling the future increase of energy consumption and reducing environmental protection.
7. Encouraging financial institutions to include environmental factor into accounting to promote more financial resource being allocated into the green industry.
8. Implementing the overall aggregation control of fossil fuel nationwide and adopting regional distribution.

Subject 2: Research on Innovation of environmental Protection System against Ecological Civilization Construction

1. Setting environmental targets as the obligatory targets of local governments and evaluating the implementation by a third party then publish the results.
2. Setting Environmental Protection Agency in the State Council that guides the environmental protection work across departments, regions and lakes.
3. Integrating the functions of environmental protection of all departments in the State Council and highlighting the integrated and independent inspection and execution rights of those department.
4. Encouraging PPP mode in environmental infrastructure and construction sector to decrease investment cost and enhance operation efficiency.
5. Establishing evaluation system of corporation environmental credibility, encouraging the enterprises adhering to the environmental regulations and offering service platform to SME.
6. Prioritizing the system of public participation, information publication and environmental appeal. The environmental protection organizations should be given a bigger role to play and grassroots should also pay attention to environmental issue to reflect the public appeal.
7. Suggesting to set up an information platform to realize a timely and accurate information sharing.
8. Reforming the environmental accounting system and setting up an environment quality inspection network run by the government.
9. Issuing related regulations on pollution emission permission and include the polluting businesses into unified supervision.

Subject 3: Research on Innovation of Urban Development Mode and System Study against Ecological Civilization

1. Establishing beautiful city through the key features of it since no certain mode of beautiful exists.
2. Setting up development targets and constriction conditions based on integrated space regulation.
3. Improving the management system of provincial level to improve the high efficiency development of urbanization to protect the ecological environment so as to coordination ecological, production and living space.
4. Setting up environmental and urban layout to improve green transportation development. Strictly implement the standard of national land usage, control the unreasonable and disorder expansion of urban areas and encourage the reuse the pilot work of regional coordinated treatment and urbanization of ecological civilization.
5. Attaching more importance to the capability of cities in treating climate change and other urban environment issue, setting risk evaluation framework adapting climate change.
6. Training the city leaders especially mayors and secretaries.
7. Establishing a healthy fiscal system. Local fiscal policy should disconnect the land development and transfer and shifts to a central fiscal budget featuring target oriented; setting up local financial tax or other tax related to urban development to replace the current land financial mode.
8. Enhancing people’s cultural identity through people oriented and preservation of natural and cultural heritage protection. Predicting risks from external environment to the health of urban citizens and encouraging public participation.

Subject 4: Research on Ecological Protection Red Line

1. Setting 35% of the national territorial land as national ecological protection red line to better protect ecological system, serve important regions and high ecological sensitive area and protect national ecological safety.
2. Adding land use of ecological kind in the current land use system and forming a new land use and categorization mode including agricultural, construction, ecological and nonuse types. And setting the ecological land as the basis of ecological protection red line and coordination among different departments.
3. Identifying and integrating the functions and management system of the current reserves and setting up national park of different levels such as forest park, geological park, Wetland Park, Ocean Park and historical and cultural sites; setting up ecological function reserves based on water conservation district, key area of water and soil conservation, flood storage area and wind protection and sand fixation to solve the problem of long-term overlapping and unclear targets in the protection of different natural reserves.
4. Setting up a long term compensation mechanism based on the red line zone of ecological protection while considering land ownership and stakeholders. Paying the ecological compensation directly to land owner and manager.

Subject 5: Research on Performance Evaluation of Air Pollution Control Action and Regional Coordinating Mechanism

1. Setting air protection targets oriented responsibility system and evaluation system, with the core focused on in the Atmospheric Pollution Prevention Law and punish those who could not meet the targets of air quality control.
2. Dividing the air quality management system of air quality management should be based on the time and space distribution rule, polluted metrological and geological factors against the back ground of air quality improvement management mode, therefore, the eastern part, which has a severe pollution and vibrant transportation should be included into one section.
3. Promoting centralized heating, enhancing coal usage rate in power plant, and industries that have high coal consumption. Accelerating the energy restructuring and increasing the clean energy proportion. Stressing on coordinated control of multi sources and multi pollutants.
4. Establishing a system of pre evaluation and annual evaluation, integrating evaluation adjusting policies and realizing targets. The indicators should include: concentrated ratio of PM2.5, days decrease of heavy pollution. Annual indicators should include Concentration ratio of PM2.5 (average concentration trend in several years), pollutant reduction, efficiency enhancement and energy structure adjustment.

Subject 6: Research on Government Auditing System of Environment

1. Setting the environmental targets and responsibility as an important part in performance assessment of the officials so as to promote the implementation of environmental responsibilities.
2. Carrying out key auditing towards environmental capital, policy and projects in government auditing institutions. Auditing should be in line with the requests of evidence collecting methods, objectivity and independence.
3. Adding auditing indicators on the current basis of the economic responsibility of the officials and put them the same importance as the economic development indicators.
4. Stressing the independence, publicity and transparency of the current economic responsibility system and enhance the greenness included and the coordination between environment and audit coordination.