Green strategy needs refocus, official says

Detailed policies required for different sectors to push development philosophy

The top leadership's green development philosophy needs to be tailored to individual sectors to build on the success already achieved, a senior environmental official said.

Ren Yong, head of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment's Environmental Development Center, refuted suggestions that environmental protection hinders economic development.

"This can only be correct if people think of a certain company's interest in a short period of time," he said.

Ren said the country now needs to draft more detailed policies for different sectors to promote the green development philosophy and include green development requirements in its medium-and long-term strategic planning.

"That is to say, to regulate the manufacturing industry with requirements on ecological environment protection and resource conservation," he said, adding that more incentives, such as preferential tax arrangements, should be given to enterprises that did not waste resources or harm the environment.

Ren said that in addition to national standards stipulating minimum requirements, different regions could implement even stricter ones - tailor-made for different sectors - based on their economic development situation.

"China has yet to move forward adequately enough in research on the design of the standards system, and government bodies still have to make a lot more effort to promote progress," he said.

While compulsory measures could promote green development among manufacturers, they were not a good choice for encouraging green consumption, he said, adding that people's ideas about consumption needed to be transformed.

Ren said one good sign was that young Chinese were developing a preference for green products. A recent survey by e-commerce giant Alibaba found that Chinese aged 23 to 35 were willing to pay 30 percent extra for green products.

Incentives for the industry and consumers' willingness to buy green products will both help enhance the competitiveness of enterprises that offer green products and promote green and high-quality development, he said.

Evidence can be found at home and abroad to show that strengthening environmental governance promotes high-quality development, Ren said.

According to the Porter Hypothesis, framed by Harvard economist Michael Porter 28 years ago, strict environmental regulations can promote commercial competitiveness by encouraging efficiency and innovation.

Ren, who is also assistant secretary-general of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development, a government advisory body made up of Chinese and foreign experts and officials, said one example of the practicality of the hypothesis was the development of the Japanese automobile sector.

In the 1970s, research in Japan and the United States concluded that a more stringent exhaust emission standard would harm the development of the automobile industry.

Only Japan chose to upgrade it, he said, which led to Japanese cars becoming increasingly popular in the 1980s, while US manufacturers lost market share.

"The central leadership of China has a clear policy orientation to promote green and high-quality development," he said.

houliqiang@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Global 07/03/2019 page4)