China will prioritize environmental conservation and the promotion of sustainable lifestyles, according to President Xi Jinping, who spoke at the opening of the Communist Party Congress over the weekend. The leader also highlighted that protecting the environment was crucial to developing a modern socialist nation.
China's stated aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060 are giving rise to businesses that may one day dominate their respective industries on a global scale.
President Xi formally announced two years ago that the world's second-largest economy would aim for peak carbon emissions in 2030 and carbon neutrality in 2060.
In his speech on Sunday, Xi stated that China has made progress in addressing environmental issues over the last decade and pledged to "basically eliminate" heavy air and water pollution while controlling soil contamination.
"Ecological and environmental protection has undergone a historical, transformational, and comprehensive change - our motherland's skies are bluer, the mountains are greener and the water is clearer," Xi said in the speech.
Analysts claimed Beijing's top-level interest on climate change has fuelled a regulatory effort to try to encourage companies focusing on renewable energy and lowering carbon emissions even as the nation tries to wean itself off coal.
One of China's primary policy goals during Xi's ten years in office has been undoing the harm caused by decades of unrelenting economic growth.
In 2018, Xi issued a warning that any failure to address pollution might be used as an "excuse" by adversaries to challenge Communist Party control.
The past two years have demonstrated how difficult it is for Chinese officials to strike a balance between fulfilling climate goals and promoting economic growth, particularly in a country where coal is the primary energy source.
Last year, overzealous efforts to compel municipal governments to reduce carbon emissions culminated in a power outage that hampered manufacturing production.
Xi, on the other hand, assured delegates that China's carbon peak and neutrality targets would be implemented gradually and in accordance with the country's energy resources.
Low-carbon growth has also become an important component of China's aspirations to strengthen its international standing and lead a new "global green industrial revolution"
Xi stated that China will continue to push "energy revolution" while supporting low-carbon businesses, pursuing a "clean and efficient use of coal" and building a new energy system.
The nationwide promotion of environmental reforms has come from China's state-run media. Beijing used to have some of the worst air pollutions in the world, but in the past year, things have gotten so much better that residents can frequently see distant mountains and stars from the city's heart.
