Experts applaud shift to sustainable model

Several Western economists gave high marks to China's ongoing transformation into a sustainable development model.

Andrew Steer, president and chief executive of the World Resources Institute, said China is a long way ahead of other countries in terms of the psychology and the belief system of sustainable development.

He cited China's notion of an ecological civilization and President Xi Jinping's idea that green is the new gold as a recognition that human wellbeing is not primarily - at least not only - about the gross domestic product.