context: Tasks for 2021 are in line with 14th 5-year plan priorities identified earlier. Notably, climate change moved up the agenda, with preparations concentrating on peaking emissions early.
Ministry of Ecology and Environment hosted 2021 national environmental work conference on 22 January. It admitted
- environmental protection continues to face structural and fundamental headwinds
- green mindset has yet to be firmly installed
- improvements are unsatisfactory
- pollution reduction results are unstable
- certain emissions sources are not covered
In 2021, the ministry will work on the following areas
- implementing 14th 5-year plan's overall environmental protection plan and special plans
- drafting the action plan to peak emissions before 2030
- building a project reserve for nationally determined contributions
- speeding up the national carbon market
- advancing low-carbon pilots
- strengthening local carbon response capacity
- drafting '2035 national strategy for climate change adaptation'
- maintaining the reduction of air, water, ocean, soil and solid waste pollution
- drafting 'Opinions for deepening fight against pollution'
- strengthening ecological conservation and restoration
- facilitating negotiations for the post-2020 biodiversity framework
- drafting 'Guiding opinions for further enhancing biodiversity conservation'
- ensuring nuclear and radiological safety
- moving forward environmental inspections
- fending off environmental risks
- building institutional foundations
- drafting '3-year plan for building modern environmental governance system'
- organising technological research for jointly controlling PM2.5 and ozone pollution, and restoring the Yangtze River
- cracking down on the falsification of monitoring data