In the report to the 19th National Congress of the CPC in 2017, I said that we must focus on priorities, address inadequacies, and shore up points of weakness, and stressed that we must take tough steps to forestall and defuse major risks, carry out targeted poverty alleviation, and prevent and control pollution, so that the moderately prosperous society we build earns the people's approval and stands the test of time. Now is the time for us to focus our strength and adopt more effective measures and policies to make sure that we are up to the fight in preventing and controlling pollution.

First, we must move faster to build systems for an ecological civilization. In order to expedite the resolution of environmental problems during the historic convergence of the Two Centenary Goals, we must act quickly to establish the following ecologically focused systems: a cultural system in which environmental concepts and values are norms, an economic system aimed at integrating industries and ecosystems, a system of responsibilities and objectives centered on improving environmental quality, a system of institutions backed by modernized governance systems and capacity, and a safety system that emphasizes the maintenance of well-functioning ecosystems and the effective prevention and control of environmental risks.

By moving faster to build systems for an ecological civilization, we will bring marked increases to the quality and effectiveness of China's economic development, and guarantee that spatial patterns, industrial structures, modes of production, and lifestyles conducive to resource conservation and environmental protection have totally taken shape by 2035. We will also see that fundamental improvements are made in environmental quality, that modernization of our national governance systems and capacity in the environmental sphere is basically achieved, and that the goals of the Beautiful China Initiative are essentially met. By the middle of the century, we will reach our objective of building a strong and modern socialist country that is prosperous, democratic, civilized, harmonious, and beautiful, and complete all-round improvements in the material, political, intellectual, social, and ecological domains. At that time, environmentally friendly ways of living and developing will be fully formed, humans and nature will coexist in harmony, modernization of our national governance systems and capacity in the environmental field will be fully realized, and our efforts to build a beautiful China will be successful.

Second, we must promote green development across the board. Green is the symbol of life and the color of nature, but it also represents the foundations of a better life and the expectations of the people. Green development is an integral component of the new development philosophy alongside innovation, coordination, openness, and sharing, and is essential for achieving comprehensive transformation and establishing a modern and high-quality economic system. The objective of green development is to transform traditional wasteful models of production and consumption and make factors such as resources, production, and consumption match up and adapt to each other so that we may achieve coordination and integration between socioeconomic development and environmental protection and ensure harmony between people and nature.

Fostering green modes of development is the key to resolving our pollution problems. Environmental quality will only go up if emissions of pollutants at the source come down. We must adjust the economic and energy structures in order to both raise the level of economic development and reduce the amount of pollution released. We must carry out environmental assessments of major plans involving economic policies and the distribution of industries, optimize the distribution of territorial space available for development, and adjust the distribution of industries within regions and river basins. We must foster growing industries that promote energy conservation and environmental protection, clean production, and clean energy, and develop efficient agricultural industries, advanced manufacturing industries, and modern service industries. We must promote all-round conservation and recycling of resources, and ensure that the systems of production and everyday life overlap in their circular use of resources.

Green ways of living relate to the basic needs of ordinary people, like food, clothing, shelter, and transportation. We must advocate a green and low-carbon lifestyle of moderation and frugality and oppose extravagance and unjustifiable consumption. We must carry out extensive campaigns to build conservation-minded public offices, engage in activities to promote green modes of transportation, and develop eco-friendly families, schools, and communities. By revolutionizing our lifestyles to become more environmentally friendly, we will set off a shift toward greener production.

Third, we must make the resolution of environmental issues a priority for improving public wellbeing. No matter how small or insignificant they may seem, any action that will benefit the people must be taken, and any issue that may endanger the people must be dealt with. In order for us to prevail in the battle to prevent and control pollution, we must fight a number of major and symbolic campaigns, concentrating our energy on overcoming prominent environmental problems that impact the people directly. At present, heavy smog, dark and fetid water bodies, growing heaps of urban waste, and deterioration of the rural environment have become problems that generate great public anxiety due to their serious harm to the lives of the people. These problems have also invited large amounts of comments and complaints from the people and even become significant factors that may lead to social instability, and therefore we must put every effort into finding solutions to them. We must pool our strength and mobilize the support of all involved, making the fight to prevent and control pollution a popular struggle in which we work as a team to push forward from one battle to the next.

We must make it a priority to win a decisive victory in the campaign to make our skies blue again. This is something that the people eagerly expect, as well as a commitment we have made to the international community as hosts of the 2022 Winter Olympics. We must strengthen joint efforts to prevent and control pollution, essentially eliminate heavy smog, and ensure that the people can once again see white clouds against a blue sky during the day and bright starts in a clear sky at night. In these efforts, we must focus on the main battlegrounds of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, the Yangtze River Delta, and the Fenwei Plain, putting particular emphasis on Beijing, and make it absolutely mandatory that we achieve marked improvements in air quality. We must adjust industrial structures, reduce excess and outdated production, and add new growth drivers. We must promote compliance with emission standards, reduce the amount of pollution discharged by key industries, and implement ultra-low emission upgrades in industries such as thermal power and steel. We must bring scattered, non-compliant, and polluting industries under control throughout the country, taking firm steps in which some are shut down, some are reformed and upgraded, and some are moved into industrial parks. We must adjust the energy mix, cutting the share of coal and speeding up the development of clean energy. As we resolutely advance clean winter heating in northern China, we must be responsive to local conditions and adopt multiple concurrent measures, using electricity or natural gas wherever appropriate. We must expedite the development of systems for the production, supply, storage, and sale of natural gas, improve the layout of natural gas sources, boost interconnectivity in the pipeline network, and guarantee adequate gas supply. At the same time, we should offer subsidies and pricing support to ensure that heating is still accessible and affordable to ordinary people after the switch from coal to gas or electricity. We must step up eliminating small coal-fired boilers, suspend operations of some heavily polluting coal power units, and speed up the retrofitting and upgrading of power plants. We must adjust the transportation structure, shifting freight volume from highways to railways. We must focus on managing pollution from diesel trucks and push forward the reorganization and improvement of freight transport operations, promoting higher quality and efficiency, franchising, and large-scale growth.

We must thoroughly implement our action plan for preventing and controlling water pollution. We must guarantee the safety of drinking water, and make progress on the key tasks of safeguarding water sources, dealing with dark and fetid bodies of water in urban areas, improving the overall environment of the Bohai region, and protecting and restoring Yangtze River ecosystems. We must eliminate essentially all of the unpleasant pollution in urban waterways, so that the people can once again sit on green banks and enjoy waters so clear that fish can be seen swimming around in them. There are many issues in water management that need to be resolved, but an extremely urgent one is the need to rectify deficiencies in the collection and treatment of urban sewage since there are far too many unfulfilled obligations in this regard. According to information gleaned through environmental inspections carried out by the Central Government, large amounts of untreated sewage are released directly into nearby bodies of water, even in municipalities directly under the Central Government, developed provinces along the coast, and special economic zones. We must set hard targets and put in every effort so that we can achieve complete coverage for wastewater pipe networks and make sure that all sewage is collected and treated as early as possible. If we instead try to deal with the problem while continuing to release sewage untreated, then we will be putting in twice the effort for half the result.

We must also see that our action plan for preventing and controlling soil pollution is comprehensively executed, and push forward the formulation and implementation of the Law on the Prevention and Control of Soil Pollution. We must prioritize key regions, industries, and pollutants, boost the management and restoration of areas affected by soil pollution, effectively forestall risks, and make sure that people have peace of mind about what they eat and where they live. We must enforce a comprehensive ban on importing foreign refuse, and significantly reduce the amount and variety of solid waste that we import. We must crack down illegal acts that damage the environment with dangerous waste, and firmly restrict the illicit transfer, dumping, use, or disposal of such waste.

Rural areas are like back gardens of cities, and the environment in these areas has a direct impact on the food on our plates and water in our cups. With this in mind, we must adjust the structure of agricultural input, cut down on the amounts of chemical fertilizers and pesticides used, apply more organic fertilizer, and improve systems for recycling and disposing of old and used plastic mulch. We must continue carrying out campaigns to improve rural living environments, see that environmental remediation covers all administrative villages in China, and fundamentally resolve the garbage, sewage, and lavatory problems of rural areas so that we may build a beautiful countryside and preserve pleasant rural landscapes for the people.

Environmental protection and pollution prevention and control are inseparable issues due to how closely they interact with one another. They function like a fraction, with pollution prevention and control as the numerator and environmental protection as the denominator. Just like with any equation, we need to consider both sides: we must subtract from the numerator by reducing pollution levels, and add to the denominator by expanding the capacity of the environment. We must rigorously enforce red lines for environmental protection, keep watch over our ecosystems including mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes, and grasslands, and achieve oversight on environmental issues at every stage of their development. Rather than rushing to redevelop urban land made available after the removal of illegal structures, we should turn it into green space, thereby ensuring that the people have access to pleasant leisure spaces.

Fourth, we must effectively forestall environmental risks. Environmental security is a key component of national security, and an important safeguard for the continuation of healthy socioeconomic development. It is imperative that we take precautions so that we are prepared for the worst before it happens. We must always maintain a high level of vigilance, prevent the accumulation and spread of all types of environmental risks, and ensure that we are well prepared to face environmental risks or challenges of any kind.

We must make management of environmental risks a regular practice, carefully constructing a multi-leveled environmental risk prevention system that monitors these risks at every stage. We must conduct strict prevention and control of key environmental risks such as those stemming from garbage incineration and p-xylene, forestall and defuse problems related to the so-called "not in my back yard" effect, prevent this effect from cropping up in environmental protection projects, and focus on raising our capacity to deal with environmental emergencies. We must strengthen supervision over nuclear and radiation safety by improving oversight systems, refining oversight mechanisms, and upgrading oversight capacity, thus making sure that there are absolutely no missteps in this regard.

Fifth, we must move faster to ensure that structural reforms in the ecological domain are implemented and take effect. Structural reform promoting ecological advancement is an important aspect of comprehensively furthering reform. With the resolution of prominent problems in the environmental domain as our goal, we must focus on implementing reform measures that have already been launched while also formulating new reform plans in a timely manner. We must see that measures related to ecological structural reform are put in place as soon as possible so that they may serve their intended functions. Central government inspections on environmental protection must be given greater resources so that they can push deeper and become more authoritative. We should explore sustainable and market-based ways to realize the value of ecological goods that feature government leadership and participation from enterprises and all social sectors, launching trials and accumulating experience in this regard. We need to improve our systems for credibility assessment based on environmental protection performance, for mandatory disclosure of environmental information, and for imposing severe punishment on violators of environmental regulations.

In the current campaign to bolster reform of Party and government institutions, the CPC Central Committee decided to establish the Ministry of Ecology and Environment. There were two main considerations in this decision. The first was the need to consolidate roles in pollution prevention and control in order to end the confusing division of responsibilities between different ministries and provide support for the fight to prevent and control pollution. The second was the need to strengthen integrated oversight and firmly enforce environmental protection red lines in order to promote ecological conservation and restoration. We must strengthen unified supervision over environmental protection and link together environmental conservation and pollution prevention and control, integrating our efforts across the spectrum from the surface to the underground, from the banks and shores to the rivers and lakes, from the land to the sea, from the cities to the countryside, and from carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide. Government departments responsible for environmental issues must effectively perform their duties, and take steps to standardize monitoring and assessment, oversight of law enforcement, accountability inspections, and the formulation of environmental policies, plans, and standards. We must establish coordinated law enforcement teams for environmental protection. In line with the principles of consolidating enforcement teams, raising their efficiency, and shortening their chains of command, we must optimize the assignment of functions to these teams and carry out unified enforcement of environmental protection law. We must improve environmental management systems for drainage basins and sea areas in all regions, promote trials to establish interregional environmental protection agencies, and consolidate the responsibilities of relevant government departments and local governments with regard to air quality management. We must expedite the establishment of environmental oversight and law enforcement bodies for drainage basins, and build greater synchronicity between environmental oversight and government law enforcement in these areas. We must refine environmental management systems in sea areas, setting up oversight bodies for each of these areas.

Sixth, we must improve environmental governance. Environmental governance is a systematic project that requires the coordinated application of measures from multiple fields, including the government, the market, the rule of law, and science and technology. We must fully utilize market-based measures in order to make environmental protection more market based and leverage greater social capital in this regard. We must refine resource and environmental pricing mechanisms, taking ecological costs into account in economic operations. We must use various methods to encourage cooperation between government and private capital. Funds needed for environmental protection must be appropriated, and we must not pinch pennies on investment. We must be committed to matching funding with the tasks of pollution prevention and control. We must boost research on factors contributing to heavy air pollution, taking further steps to bring these factors under control, and overcome key scientific and technical hurdles including those related to major projects for improving the overall environment of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. We must carry out dedicated, forward-looking research on the management of ozone, volatile organic compounds, and new pollutants, conduct research on how to deal with major environmental problems that impact socioeconomic development, and expedite the application of research achievements, thereby offering support for scientific decision making, environmental management, targeted pollution control, and public services. We must implement a national strategy for actively responding to climate change, promote and guide the establishment of a fair and equitable global climate governance system featuring mutually beneficial cooperation, enhance China's image as a responsible major country, and push forward the development of a human community with a shared future.