【Abstract】Carrying out coordinated emission reduction of pollutants and carbon dioxide is a key way and an important starting point for implementing Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization and promoting the construction of ecological civilization. Since 2020, General Secretary Xi Jinping has proposed and emphasized carbon peaking and carbon neutrality several times, and guided the inclusion of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality in the layout of ecological civilization construction. By analyzing and sorting out the great significance and necessity of pollution reduction and carbon reduction synergy, this paper further expounds the rich connotation of pollution reduction and carbon reduction synergy from the perspectives of goals, paths, management, effects, and departmental collaboration, and puts forward countermeasures and suggestions in terms of economic and social green transformation, top-level design of pollution reduction and carbon reduction, key measures for goal realization, and scientific and technological support, so as to provide reference for promoting pollution reduction and carbon reduction synergy and building a beautiful China in which man and nature coexist in harmony.
【Keywords】Pollution reduction and carbon reduction; ecological civilization; synergy; connotation; suggestions
【About the author】Jiang Hua, Vice President and Researcher of Chinese Academy of Environmental Sciences, Gao Jian, Researcher of Chinese Academy of Environmental Sciences, Yang Pingjian, Senior Engineer, Chinese Academy of Environmental Sciences
This article was published in Environmental Protection Magazine, No. 16, 2021
On September 22, 2020, President Xi Jinping announced at the general debate of the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly that China will increase its nationally determined contribution, adopt more powerful policies and measures, strive to peak carbon dioxide emissions by 2030, and strive to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. Since then, General Secretary Xi Jinping has reiterated carbon peaking and carbon neutrality at major meetings at home and abroad, which is a major strategic decision made by the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core after careful consideration, which demonstrates the mission of a responsible major country and is also a major historical responsibility for China to promote the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that carbon peaking and carbon neutrality should be included in the layout of ecological civilization construction. The Proposal of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Formulating the 14th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development and the Long-term Goals for the Year 2035 calls for accelerating green development, continuously improving environmental quality, and building a modernization in which man and nature coexist in harmony. We must deeply study and implement Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization, accelerate the synergy of pollution reduction and carbon reduction, and make new contributions to building a beautiful China.
The significance and necessity of pollution reduction and carbon reduction synergy
It is an inevitable requirement for building a modern and beautiful China in which man and nature coexist in harmony
Human beings have only one earth, and global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions has brought many natural disasters to human beings. As a responsible major country, China wants to build a modernization in which man and nature coexist in harmony, and it will inevitably take the lead in carbon reduction until it achieves carbon neutrality, showing the mission and responsibility of a big country. At the same time, drastically reducing pollutant emissions and building a beautiful China is also the due meaning of a socialist modern power.
It is an inevitable requirement for implementing the new development concept and achieving green, low-carbon and high-quality development
Entering a new stage of development, we must resolutely eliminate industries with high consumption, high emissions and high pollution, change the status quo of China's industrial structure, and resolutely abandon blind development and temporary development at the expense of resources and environment, and must take the road of high-quality development, of which green is the background color and low carbon is the symbol. Only pollution reduction and carbon reduction synergy is the only way.
To achieve carbon neutrality, it is necessary to improve the efficiency of production factor inputs through technological progress and structural adjustment, and to accelerate the development of strategic emerging industries, high-end manufacturing industries and modern service industries that match manufacturing industries that are knowledge-intensive, consume less material resources, have high comprehensive benefits and have great growth potential. Therefore, carbon neutrality will become a booster and catalyst for China's economic transformation and upgrading.
It is a fundamental measure to practice the people-centered development concept and protect the interests of the people
The ruling philosophy of the Communist Party of China is that everything is for the people, everything depends on the people, and the fruits of development are shared by the people. China has taken all possible carbon reduction measures, actively responded to climate change, and worked hard to prevent and mitigate various natural disasters caused by extremely unfavorable weather caused by global warming, so as to protect the safety of people's lives and property to the greatest extent. At the same time, a good ecological environment is the most inclusive people's livelihood and well-being, the environment is the people's livelihood, the green mountains are beautiful, the blue sky is also happiness, and the people's pursuit of a beautiful ecological environment and high-quality ecological products is our goal. The Party Central Committee and the State Council have always attached great importance to ecological environmental protection, especially since the Eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the construction of ecological civilization has been included in the overall layout of the national "five-in-one", and the quality of the ecological environment has continued to improve. General Secretary Xi Jinping demanded that the construction of a beautiful China should return the people's blue sky and white clouds, twinkling stars, clear water, clear shores, shallow bottoms of fish, idyllic scenery, birds and flowers.
It is the fundamental driving force for extensive and profound systemic changes in production and lifestyle
In the final analysis, the ecological and environmental problems are the problems of economic development mode and lifestyle. At present, the construction of Ecological Civilization in China is still in a critical period of superimposed pressure and heavy loads, protection and development, long-term contradictions and short-term problems are intertwined, and the structural, root cause and trend pressures of ecological environmental protection have not been fundamentally alleviated on the whole [1]. Only by taking carbon peaking and carbon neutrality as the constraint, promoting the fundamental change of energy structure and the optimization and adjustment of industrial structure, transportation structure and land use structure, and promoting the comprehensive green transformation of production methods and lifestyles, can we simultaneously achieve a substantial reduction in conventional pollutants and carbon dioxide emissions.
Provide an important starting point for the in-depth ecological environmental protection work in the new stage
Achieving the synergistic effect of pollution reduction and carbon reduction is a new requirement of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core for the battle against pollution, and it is also a general requirement [2]. The biggest opportunity for ecological environmental protection in the new development stage is that the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core has placed the response to climate change in a more prominent and important position in the construction of ecological civilization, regarded the realization of the synergistic effect of pollution reduction and carbon reduction as the goal requirement for in-depth fight against pollution, made a series of major deployments, and promoted the coordinated governance of pollution reduction and carbon reduction to become an important starting point for promoting the comprehensive green and low-carbon transformation of economic and social development [3]. Integrating carbon dioxide emission reduction into ecological environmental protection and leading the role of the goal of responding to climate change is the deep integration of protection and development. We must hold on to the "bull's nose" of "carbon reduction", promote the overall improvement of the quality of the ecological environment and achieve a fundamental improvement.
It is an inevitable choice to give full play to the advantages of renewable energy and promote the energy revolution
In the context of carbon neutrality, the energy structure will shift from the current fossil energy to non-fossil energy, and the era of oil domination will end. This will surely promote the world's energy revolution based on clean energy and renewable energy, and the focus of international competition will gradually shift to new energy and low-carbon technologies. China's clean energy resources are abundant, and we can gradually get rid of the passive situation of dependence on imports of oil and natural gas and subject to people, and realize the "curve overtaking" in the field of new energy.
The connotation of pollution reduction and carbon reduction synergy
There can be a good synergy effect between pollution reduction and carbon reduction, which is determined by China's high-carbon energy structure and high energy consumption, high emissions and high pollution industrial structure. Reducing the combustion and processing of fossil energy sources such as coal and oil can reduce carbon dioxide emissions while also reducing conventional pollutant emissions. The implementation of coordinated governance of pollution reduction and carbon reduction can better promote the effective transformation of environmental governance from focusing on end-of-end treatment to paying more attention to source prevention and source treatment.
Pollution reduction and carbon reduction targets are coordinated
The continuous reduction of CO2 emissions and even the achievement of net zero CO2 emissions (carbon neutrality) is to protect the co-living home. Continuously reducing the discharge of various pollutants to continuously improve the quality of the ecological environment is to continuously meet the people's demand for a beautiful ecological environment and build a modernization in which man and nature coexist in harmony. Pollution reduction and carbon reduction are all important contents of the overall layout of ecological civilization construction, and ultimately all of them are aimed at protecting the safety and health of human beings themselves, and their goals are essentially coordinated.
The path of pollution reduction and carbon reduction is coordinated
The emission of carbon dioxide and pollutants is the same root, the same source, the same process, and the treatment and emission reduction paths are basically the same, reflecting the synergy of the paths. The battle against pollution mainly focuses on the following three aspects: First, adjust the energy structure, continuously improve the proportion of non-fossil energy, reduce the proportion of fossil energy, especially coal consumption, promote the control of the total amount of coal consumption, the growth rate of oil and gas consumption, and accelerate the development of energy cleanness and efficiency [4]; the second is to adjust the industrial structure, and accelerate the elimination of backward production capacity, reduce excess production capacity, optimize and adjust the industrial layout, and upgrade production processes for key industries with high energy consumption and high pollution, such as steel, building materials, nonferrous metals, petrochemicals, and chemicals. The third is to adjust the transportation structure, accelerate the upgrading of public to rail and water transfer, eliminate yellow label vehicles and diesel trucks below national III. The above pollutant emission reduction path is also a carbon dioxide emission reduction path, in the carbon neutral scenario, the above path will progress faster and more thoroughly, the intensity of pollutant emission reduction will be greater, and the speed and magnitude of environmental quality improvement will be far greater than the scenario without carbon peaking and carbon neutrality constraints.
Pollution reduction and carbon reduction management coordination
During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, in order to fight the battle against pollution, it is necessary to highlight the source treatment, systematic governance, and comprehensive treatment, and the ecological environmental protection will also move from pollutant treatment to pollution reduction and carbon reduction collaborative governance, which is determined by the comprehensive green transformation of China's new development stage of economy and society and low-carbon high-quality development. The synergy of pollution reduction and carbon reduction will fundamentally accelerate the adjustment of energy structure, industrial structure, transportation structure, land use structure and agricultural structure, and achieve a higher degree of structural emission reduction, engineering emission reduction and management emission reduction from a wider range of fields and at a deeper level. At the same time, accelerating the implementation of ecological protection and restoration will enhance the carbon sequestration capacity of ecosystems and increase ecological carbon sinks.
The effect of pollution reduction and carbon reduction is synergistic
During the "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" period, through measures such as energy conservation and pollutant structure reduction, a total of 4.7 million tons of sulfur dioxide and 4.3 million tons of nitrogen oxides were reduced, and studies and estimates show that the simultaneous reduction of carbon dioxide emissions was 1.5 billion tons. The coal-fired treatment during the "13th Five-Year Plan" period reflects the coordinated prevention and control of pollution reduction and carbon reduction, and the same direction: the proportion of national coal consumption in the energy structure has been reduced from 64% to 56.8%, the PM2.5 concentration has decreased by 28.8%, and the carbon dioxide emission intensity per unit of GDP has decreased by 19.5%. The experience in recent years, especially the work results since the implementation of the "Ten Articles of the Atmosphere" and the Blue Sky Defense War, show that a series of measures taken to control environmental pollution and achieve continuous improvement of the ecological environment, especially pollutant emission reduction measures (including structural emission reduction, engineering emission reduction, management emission reduction, etc.) can achieve coordinated carbon dioxide emission reduction, which has played an important role in promoting the reduction of carbon emission intensity. Under the constraints and backwards of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, the energy structure, industrial structure, transportation structure, etc. will undergo fundamental adjustments, production methods, lifestyles, etc. will undergo significant changes, the government, enterprises, the public, etc. will fully participate in the green and low-carbon action, combined with carbon reduction will release greater pollution reduction potential [5], the synergy of pollution reduction and carbon reduction will be more significant, and the beautiful China in harmony between man and nature will be built as soon as possible.
Synergy between pollution reduction and carbon reduction sectors
The competent departments in key areas such as energy, industry, and transportation, as well as high-emission industries and enterprises such as thermal power, iron and steel, coal, and petrochemicals, are also responsible for pollution reduction and carbon reduction, and can fully learn from the successful experience of multi-departmental joint prevention and joint governance that has been formed in the blue sky defense war, jointly plan, and coordinate the formulation of a series of laws, policies, and normative guidelines for pollution reduction and carbon reduction, and better promote the effective transformation of environmental governance from focusing on end-of-end governance to paying more attention to source prevention and source governance.
Countermeasures for pollution reduction and carbon reduction synergy
Globally, tackling high pollution and tackling high carbon represent two distinct stages of development. China's carbon emission reduction is carried out at the same time as the high-intensity treatment of pollutants, and the tasks of pollutant emission reduction and carbon emission reduction are very heavy and urgent. This phased characteristic determines the strategic consistency and tactical coupling of pollutant emission reduction and carbon emission reduction in China, and it must be coordinated to achieve synergy and synergy [6].
Do a good job in the top-level design of pollution reduction and carbon reduction synergy
The first is to revise and improve relevant laws and policies in accordance with the general principle of synergy between pollution reduction and carbon reduction, gradually integrate climate change into the system of ecological environmental protection laws and policies, and realize carbon reduction and pollution management coordination according to law: accelerate the promotion of legislation related to climate change, increase specific provisions for carbon emission reduction and control; promote the introduction and implementation of carbon emission trading management regulations; and explore the integration of carbon emission trading and pollutant discharge right trading. The second is to improve the relevant standards and guidelines for carbon emissions and emission reduction, study and formulate carbon benchmarks and carbon emission standard systems, and establish carbon emission monitoring, assessment, accounting methods and verification guidelines as soon as possible. The third is to incorporate pollution reduction and carbon reduction into the ecological environment related assessment system. Implement a dual control system with carbon emission intensity control as the mainstay and total carbon emission control as the supplement, and incorporate carbon emission reduction tasks and pollutant emission reduction tasks into the central ecological environmental protection inspectorate. The fourth is to strengthen the supervision and enforcement of pollutant emission reduction and carbon emission reduction. Establish and improve supporting rules and regulations that are compatible with pollution reduction and carbon reduction. Strengthen law enforcement capacity building, including increasing the training of law enforcement personnel, equipped with portable, fast and accurate law enforcement instruments and equipment.
Grasp the key points and keys of pollution reduction and carbon reduction synergy to achieve maximum efficiency
The key to pollution reduction and carbon reduction is pressed coal, and the key is structural adjustment. There was a significant positive correlation between coal consumption and carbon dioxide emissions and pollutant emissions. In 2020, coal consumption still accounts for 56.8% of China's total primary energy consumption, and coal pressing is the key to pollution reduction and carbon reduction, not only to reduce the intensity of coal consumption, but also to reduce the total amount of coal consumption. The total amount of coal consumption should reach the peak as soon as possible, and strive to reduce the proportion of coal in energy consumption to about 50% by 2025, develop new energy alternatives to coal, and promote non-fossil energy to become the main body of energy consumption increase。 China's industrial structure has not been fundamentally changed, high energy consumption, high pollution industries are also high carbon emissions of key industries, we must accelerate the promotion of industrial restructuring, strictly prohibit the new reform and expansion of high energy consumption, high emission projects, accelerate the elimination of steel, nonferrous metals, building materials, petrochemical, chemical, thermal power, paper and other industries backward and excess capacity. Vigorously carry out ecosystem protection and restoration, and continuously improve the carbon sequestration capacity of ecosystems and increase carbon sinks through nature-based solutions.
Increase scientific and technological support for pollution reduction and carbon reduction synergy
The fundamental way to achieve pollution reduction and carbon reduction, whether it is the development of new energy to promote the energy revolution, or the structural adjustment to promote industrial transformation and upgrading; whether it is to reduce the emission of carbon dioxide and pollutants from the source, or through terminal treatment, it is inseparable from scientific and technological innovation. It is necessary to establish a scientific and technological system and mechanism for pollution reduction and carbon reduction synergy as soon as possible, and encourage scientific research institutes, enterprises or individuals to carry out research and development of relevant core or key technologies.
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