The Report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (the “Report”) explicitly states the Party’s spirit, route, attitude and objective as it embarks on a new journey. The Report also provides a macro-outlook on the two-step strategic plan for building China into a great modern socialist country in all respects and scientifically plans the objectives, tasks and guiding policies for the development of the cause of the Party and the country in the next five years and beyond.

Q1: Part X “Pursuing Green Development and Promoting Harmony between Humanity and Nature” of the Report is of great significance to the understanding that Chinese modernization is the modernization of harmony between humanity and nature and the understanding of the main tasks of China’s green development in the next five years and up to 2035. Why should we promote green development?

Zhu Dajian: The theory that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets is the ideological foundation of China’s ecological civilization and green development. The Report emphasizes, “We must uphold and act on the principle that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets, and we must remember to maintain harmony between humanity and nature when planning our development.” To learn the theory that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets, I think we need to think deeply on three levels from the perspective of pursuing economic and social prosperity within the eco-environment red line in Chinese modernization. Firstly, the double-consideration theory of pursuing both lucid waters and lush mountains and economic development: the development concept opposes pursuing growth only and protecting the environment only; secondly, the red-line theory or the bottom-line theory: it mainly means that the bottom-line thinking related to the ecological red line should be adhered to when development conflicts with the environment; thirdly, the value theory of lucid waters and lush mountains as invaluable assets: it emphasizes the special significance of the ecosystem service or ecological product value to the satisfaction of people’s diverse needs for a better life.

Q2: Compared with the Western development model, what are the characteristics of Chinese modernization in terms of green development?

Zhu Dajian: China’s green development is the coordinated and parallel development of the economy, society and environment, in which concerted efforts in four aspects are very important. The Report emphasizes, “We will advance the Beautiful China Initiative and take a holistic and systematic approach to the conservation and improvement of mountains, waters, forests, farmlands, grasslands, and deserts. We will carry out coordinated industrial restructuring, pollution control, ecological conservation, and climate response, and we will promote concerted efforts to cut carbon emissions, reduce pollution, expand green development, and pursue economic growth. We will prioritize ecological protection, conserve resources and use them efficiently, and pursue green and low-carbon development.” Unlike the Western serial development model in which their industrialization developed the economy at the expense of the environment, Chinese modernization places a strong emphasis on the parallel development model, which protects the environment while developing the economy and incorporates environmental protection into the development process for whole-process management. In practice, China’s parallel green development has experienced systematic, all-encompassing and dramatic transformations in the decade since 2012.

Q3: Respecting, adapting to, and protecting nature is essential for building China into a modern socialist country in all respects. What should be done to advance the Beautiful China Initiative in the future?

Zhu Dajian: As for the actions for green development in the next five years, the Report proposes a concerted promotion strategy in line with the parallel development model: promoting concerted efforts to cut carbon emissions, reduce pollution, expand green development, and pursue economic growth, and proposes a Chinese approach to the main tasks and institutional arrangements in the four areas. Firstly, cutting carbon emissions is to achieve energy transition and carbon emission reduction innovation; secondly, reducing pollution is to further fight the four critical battles of pollution control; thirdly, expanding green development is to expand from ecological restoration to improvement of the three functions of ecological products and services; fourthly, pursuing economic growth is to achieve the four structural transformations from brown growth to green growth.

The key to green growth in China lies in the green and ecological transformation of the energy structure, industrial structure, transportation structure and construction land structure, which correspond to “four-decoupling”. The transformation of the energy structure is to decouple energy consumption from fossil energy with CO₂ emissions; the transformation of the industrial structure is to decouple production and consumption from a linear economy with waste growth; the transformation of the transportation structure is to decouple transportation from road vehicles with high emissions; the transformation of the construction land structure is to decouple urban development from single function and land expansion. We can achieve the grand goal of building a Beautiful China by 2035 through the four-decoupling.