On September 25th, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, with a 'luxurious' lineup of one minister and three vice ministers, attended a series of thematic press conferences on "Promoting High-Quality Development" held by the State Council Information Office. They introduced relevant information on ecological and environmental governance and answered reporters' questions.
　　Finally, following the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment appeared at the State Council Information Office's "Promoting High-Quality Development" series of thematic press conferences on September 25th, with a 'luxurious' lineup of one minister and three vice ministers to introduce relevant information on ecological and environmental governance and answer reporters' questions.
 
　　"High-quality development is the primary task of comprehensively building a socialist modern country and the hard truth of the new era. In recent years, guided by Xi Jinping's Thought on Ecological Civilization, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment has persisted in promoting high-quality development through high-level protection, and has jointly promoted carbon reduction, pollution reduction, green expansion, and growth, with the effectiveness of coordinating development and protection continuously improving." Minister Huang Runqiu of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment stated that in the past ten years, the "gold content" of China's ecological environment has significantly improved, the "green content" of development has increased noticeably, and the public's satisfaction with the ecological environment has increased from less than 80% in 2017 to over 91% in 2023.
 
　　China has become the country with the fastest improvement in air quality globally.
 
　　According to Zhao Yingmin, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, over the past decade, our country has seen a significant decrease in the concentration of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), becoming the country with the fastest improvement in air quality globally. Among them, the United Nations Environment Programme has praised Beijing's improvement in air quality as the "Beijing Miracle," and "red walls and yellow tiles reflecting the blue sky" has become a "standard" in the photo albums of citizens and tourists. The achievements of the Blue Sky Protection Campaign are evident to all.
 
　　Data shows that in 2023, Beijing's average annual PM2.5 concentration was 32 micrograms per cubic meter, having consistently met standards for three consecutive years. Compared to 2013, Beijing's average annual PM2.5 concentration decreased by 64.2%, and the number of days with good air quality increased by 95 days. On August 15th, the 2024 National Ecology Day Beijing publicity event was held. At the event, a relevant official from the Beijing Municipal Development and Reform Commission introduced that in the past ten years, Beijing's industrial structure has continued to optimize and upgrade, the pace of green energy transformation has accelerated, and the momentum of green economic development is positive, achieving new accomplishments such as becoming a "national forest city across the board".
 
　　The "Opinions on Comprehensively Promoting the Construction of Beautiful China" requires that by 2035, the national PM2.5 concentration should be reduced to below 25 micrograms per cubic meter. This means that the average annual concentration of 339 cities nationwide needs to reach the level of Beijing from June to September, and achieving this goal still faces considerable challenges. In response, Zhao Yingmin stated that the Ministry of Ecology and Environment will continue to promote high-quality ultra-low emission transformation in the steel, cement, and coking industries, while vigorously promoting the reduction of nitrogen oxides and volatile organic pollutants, synergistically controlling ozone pollution, resolutely implementing "one policy for each enterprise," and resolutely opposing a "one-size-fits-all" approach.
 
　　China's water ecological environment protection has undergone a significant transformative change.
 
　　Water problems originate from water sources, but the root causes are on land. Guo Fang, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, stated that in recent years, the ecological and environmental departments have firmly grasped the "bull by the horns" of investigating and rectifying the discharge of pollutants into rivers. Currently, 560,000 kilometers of river and lake shorelines have been investigated, solving nearly 200,000 problems of direct and disorderly sewage discharge. In 2023, the proportion of excellent surface water quality sections nationwide reached 89.4%, exceeding the "14th Five-Year Plan" target by 4.4 percentage points; the Yangtze River main stream has maintained Class II water quality for four consecutive years, and the Yellow River main stream for two consecutive years.
 
　　Guo Fang mentioned that through promoting the promulgation of the Yangtze River and Yellow River Protection Laws, establishing seven major river basin ecological environmental supervision and management agencies, coordinating river basin inspections and provincial inspections, and improving cross-provincial river basin horizontal ecological protection compensation mechanisms, China's river basin management reform has continued to deepen, effectively stimulating the enthusiasm for coordinated protection between upstream and downstream river basins. Among them, the Xin'an River, as a national pilot project for cross-provincial river basin ecological compensation mechanisms, has maintained Class II water quality at the provincial boundary section for 12 years. The compensation has transitioned from a "pilot project" to "experience" and has been replicated and promoted in 23 provinces and 27 river basins.
 
　　The Ministry of Ecology and Environment directly manages 33,000 monitoring stations.
 
　　Dong Baotong, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and Director of the National Nuclear Safety Administration, answered questions from a reporter regarding ecological and environmental monitoring. In his speech, he mentioned that China has now established the world's largest, most complete, and technologically advanced ecological and environmental monitoring network. The Ministry of Ecology and Environment directly manages 33,000 monitoring stations. In addition to the traditional key monitoring content such as water, air, and soil, ecological quality monitoring, biodiversity monitoring, greenhouse gas monitoring, and new pollutant monitoring have also been added, achieving full coverage of monitoring locations and elements.
 
　　Furthermore, ecological environmental monitoring technology is constantly upgrading, with automated monitoring becoming the primary method. Drones, mobile monitoring vehicles, and lidar have become the "standard equipment" of monitoring stations nationwide. The Ministry of Ecology and Environment, as the lead user, has seven in-orbit satellites, which provide strong support for the scientific nature of monitoring.
 
　　Of course, Dong Baotong pointed out that while the overall network system is in place, the integrated sky-land-sea monitoring network needs to be further improved and its shortcomings addressed, such as ocean monitoring, ecological quality monitoring, biodiversity monitoring, and new pollutant monitoring. At the same time, further strengthening the transformation to automation, digitization, and intelligence is necessary. Furthermore, the issue of data falsification by third-party testing needs to be taken seriously, and in the future, there will be further strengthening of penetrating supervision, severely punishing and curbing data falsification according to the law.
 
　　Since the beginning of the "14th Five-Year Plan," an additional 67,000 administrative villages nationwide have completed environmental improvements.
 
　　Beautiful villages are an indispensable part of building a beautiful China. Guo Fang, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, stated: "Since the beginning of the '14th Five-Year Plan,' an additional 67,000 administrative villages nationwide have completed environmental improvements, the rural domestic sewage treatment rate has reached over 45%, fertilizer and pesticide utilization rates exceed 41%, comprehensive utilization of livestock and poultry manure reaches 78%, agricultural film recycling rate is over 80%. Through 'two key improvements and one system strengthening', the rural ecological environment has been significantly improved."
 
　　The two key improvements refer to the treatment of rural domestic sewage and rural black and odorous water bodies. One system strengthening refers to systematically strengthening the protection of farmland soil. Guo Fang emphasized that rural sewage treatment especially encourages resource utilization. For example, in Wenshan, Yunnan, harmlessly treated domestic sewage is returned to the fields for use in growing vegetables, grain, and flowers. This method requires little investment, is easy to manage and maintain, has low costs, and is high in fertilizer efficiency, making it popular with local farmers. In Jincheng, Shanxi, the treatment of black and odorous water bodies has also integrated the inheritance of local traditional village culture. One village, Mixi Village, was even a filming location for the game "Black Myth: Wukong"'s Tiefo Temple.
 
　　At the same time, to solve problems such as rural sewage treatment facilities being built but not operating normally, and the random stacking and discarding of livestock and poultry manure and domestic garbage, relevant ecological and environmental departments have improved the problem-discovery mechanism and have established a special channel with People's Daily Online. Letters from the grassroots level via People's Daily Online are used as problem clues, with "four nos and two directs" investigations and evidence collection, case reporting, and regular scheduling to timely discover and resolve problems, expanding the effectiveness of rural environmental improvement.
 
　　The cumulative transaction volume of the carbon emission trading market has reached 27.9 billion yuan, with carbon prices fluctuating around 90 yuan per ton.
 
　　The carbon market is a crucial measure utilizing market mechanisms to control greenhouse gas emissions and achieve carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals. It is also a widely adopted climate governance policy tool internationally. In July 2021 and January 2024, the national carbon emission trading market and the national greenhouse gas voluntary emission reduction trading market were launched successively, together forming China's national carbon market system. By the end of August this year, the carbon emission trading market had accumulated a trading volume of 476 million tons and a transaction value of 27.9 billion yuan, with the carbon price fluctuating around 90 yuan per ton, generally remaining at a reasonable level.
 
　　To solidify the foundation for managing and controlling greenhouse gas emissions, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment has continuously organized the compilation of national and provincial greenhouse gas inventories, regularly publishes unified and authoritative emission factors at all levels, and continuously improves the carbon emission accounting system for energy activities and industrial processes, providing basic support services to meet the carbon emission accounting needs of various sectors of society. In May this year, the "Implementation Plan for Establishing a Carbon Footprint Management System" was officially issued, outlining 22 key tasks in four areas.
 
　　In the future, as Zhao Yingmin stated, relevant departments will further expand the industry coverage of the carbon market, release more methodologies, incorporate more participants, strictly regulate the data quality of the carbon market, and strive to build a more effective, vibrant, and internationally influential carbon market.