6. Step up environmental governance efforts and work to see breakthroughs in green development

Pollution control and environmental protection are important to both the health of our people and sustainable development, so we must work hard moving forward and resolve to take a path that leads to both economic development and environmental improvement.

■We will take strong measures against air and water pollution.

This year, we will ensure that chemical oxygen demand and ammonia nitrogen emissions are both reduced by 2%, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions are cut by 3%, and the density of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in key areas continues to fall. We will focus on promoting the reduction of emissions from the burning of coal and motor vehicles. We will work to promote cleaner and more efficient use of coal, ensure there is less use of untreated coal, and do more to see coal substituted with electricity and natural gas. We will upgrade coal-burning power plants nationwide to achieve ultra-low emissions and energy efficiency, and we will move faster to shut down coal-fired boilers that do not meet compulsory standards.

We will increase natural gas supply, improve policy support for the development of wind, solar, and biomass energy, and increase the proportion of clean energy in total energy consumption. We will encourage a whole range of forms of straw utilization and restrict open burning. We will push for the use of automobile gasoline and diesel fuel that meet National-V standards nationwide and see that 3.8 million old or high-emission vehicles are taken off the roads.

We will coordinate efforts to prevent and control air pollution in regions where it presents a problem. We will press ahead with the nationwide development and upgrading of urban sewage treatment facilities, and strengthen comprehensive efforts aimed at controlling agricultural pollution from non-point sources and at improving the water environment in river basin areas. We will step up efforts to deal with industrialpollution at the source and conduct online monitoring of all polluting enterprises. We will strengthen environmental inspection and reward and punish as appropriate. We must ensure that the newly revised Environmental Protection Law is strictly enforced, that those who emit pollutants beyond the limit allowed by their permit or without a permit are severely punished as stipulated by law, and that those who knowingly allow such violations are held to account in accordance with the law.

■We will work to develop the energy conservation andenvironmental protection industries.

We will ensure that environmental standards are applied in more areas. We will improve policy support to encourage the use of energy-saving and environmentally friendly advanced technologies and equipment, promote on a large scale contracted energy management and third-party treatment of environmental pollution, and work to see that energy-saving renovations in buildings are strengthened and efforts are accelerated to make traditional manufacturing more eco-friendly. We will encourage everyone to conserve energy and water, make progress in using sorted treatment of waste,improve the networks for recycling renewable resources, and turn the energy conservation and environmental protection industries into pillar industries underpinning China’s development.

■We will continue to develop ecological security barriers.

We will improve mechanisms for compensating for ecological conservation efforts. Commercial logging in natural forests will be banned, and a new round of subsidy and award policies for grassland ecological conservation efforts will be implemented. Trials to comprehensively deal with the over-abstraction of groundwater will be moved ahead, more will be done to protect and restore wetlands and other ecosystems, and continued efforts will be made to curb desertification, rock desertification, and soil erosion. Every one of us has an obligation to protect the environment—we call on every member of society to act and contribute to the building of a Beautiful China.