An Action Guide for Promoting the Green Transformation of the Development Model

Development is the foundation and key to solving all of China’s problems, and high-quality development is the primary task of building a modern socialist country in all respects. The development philosophy determines the effectiveness of development; the new development philosophy of innovation, coordination, green, openness, and sharing has steadily advanced China’s high-quality development. Among these, green development focuses on resolving the issue of harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature, and it is the underlying color of high-quality development. The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the CPC [n1] proposed “accelerating the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development and building a beautiful China.” General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly emphasized the practice of the green development philosophy on various occasions, demanding that “the green development philosophy be implemented throughout the entire process and all aspects of economic and social development,” providing a fundamental guideline and action guide for better meeting the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life and accelerating the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development.

发展是解决我国一切问题的基础和关键，高质量发展是全面建设社会主义现代化国家的首要任务。发展理念决定着发展成效，创新、协调、绿色、开放、共享的新发展理念引领我国高质量发展扎实推进。其中，绿色发展注重解决人与自然和谐共生问题，是高质量发展的底色。党的二十届四中全会提出，“加快经济社会发展全面绿色转型，建设美丽中国”。习近平总书记在不同场合多次强调践行绿色发展理念，要求“把绿色发展理念贯穿于经济社会发展全过程各方面”，为更好满足人民日益增长的美好生活需要，加快经济社会发展全面绿色转型提供了根本遵循和行动指南。

Drawing on Domestic and International Development Experiences and Lessons

汲取国内外发展经验教训

The key to achieving green development is correctly handling the relationship between economic development and ecological environmental protection. We must have both gold and silver mountains and lucid waters and lush mountains [n2]; we must both hold the bottom line of ecological environmental protection, not sacrificing the ecological environment for temporary economic development, and fully utilize the ecological environment, continuously transforming ecological advantages into development advantages. The green development philosophy did not emerge from thin air; it was formed on the basis of deeply summarizing domestic and international development experiences and lessons and analyzing the general trend of world development. It has strong practical relevance and strategic guidance for promoting high-quality development.

实现绿色发展，关键是正确处理经济发展和生态环境保护之间的关系。既要金山银山，又要绿水青山；既要坚守生态环境保护底线，不以牺牲生态环境为代价换取经济的一时发展，又要充分利用生态环境，将生态优势源源不断转化为发展优势。绿色发展理念不是凭空产生的，而是在深刻总结国内外发展经验教训、分析世界发展大势的基础上形成的，对推动高质量发展具有极强的现实针对性和战略引领性。

Since reform and opening up, China has created two miracles: rapid economic development and long-term social stability. It has completed the industrialization process that took Western developed countries several centuries in just a few decades, significantly enhancing its comprehensive national strength and the people’s living standards. However, the traditional extensive economic growth model of “high input, high consumption, high pollution, and low efficiency” has also caused air pollution, water pollution, soil pollution, etc. Problems of incoordination, imbalance, and unsustainability have become increasingly prominent, severely constraining the sustainable development of the economy and society and the further improvement of the people’s living standards. Entering the New Era, China’s economy has shifted from a stage of high-speed growth to a stage of high-quality development, making the task of promoting green development more important and urgent. The realities determine that we must correctly handle the relationship between economic development and ecological environmental protection to achieve higher-quality and more sustainable development. Adhering to the green development philosophy helps both to restore and repair damaged ecosystems, supporting high-quality development with high-level protection, and to cultivate new industries and new business forms, shaping new drivers and new advantages for economic development. It also accelerates the technological transformation of traditional industries and the green transformation of production methods, breaking through resource and environmental constraints and revitalizing old drivers.

改革开放以来，我国创造了经济快速发展和社会长期稳定两大奇迹，用几十年时间走完了西方发达国家几百年走过的工业化历程，综合国力和人民生活水平得到显著提升。然而，传统“高投入、高消耗、高污染、低效率”的粗放型经济增长方式也造成了大气污染、水体污染、土壤污染等，不协调、不平衡、不可持续问题日益凸显，严重制约了经济社会可持续发展与人民群众生活水平进一步提升。进入新时代，我国经济已由高速增长阶段转向高质量发展阶段，推动绿色发展的任务更加重要而紧迫。现实情况决定了我们必须正确处理好经济发展和生态环境保护的关系，实现更高质量、更可持续的发展。坚持绿色发展理念既有助于恢复和修复被破坏的生态环境，以高水平保护支撑高质量发展，也有助于培育新产业、新业态，塑造经济发展新动能、新优势，并推动传统产业技术改造提速与生产方式绿色转型，破解资源环境约束，使旧动能焕发生机。

In the industrialization process of Western developed countries, the development path of “pollute first, treat later” created enormous material wealth but also came at a very heavy cost. The “eight major public nuisance incidents in the world” that occurred in Western countries in the last century, such as the Los Angeles photochemical smog incident, the London smog incident, and Japan’s Minamata disease incident, had a huge impact on the ecological environment and public health, forcing the relevant countries to invest heavily in treatment and also triggering profound reflection on the Western modernization model. Currently, promoting green transformation has become a universal consensus in the international community. The United States, Japan, and many European countries have all introduced national strategies and plans, making the development of green manufacturing a key lever for winning future competition; emerging economies such as India and Brazil have also introduced corresponding green manufacturing development strategies based on their national conditions. Against the backdrop of deep adjustments in the global economic landscape and development models, only by integrating the green development philosophy into all aspects of China’s economic and social development can we avoid the historical limitations and drawbacks of Western modernization; only by transforming the development model through developing a green economy and effectively improving the level of green manufacturing can we enhance the resilience of economic development and thus win the initiative in development amid fierce international competition.

在西方发达国家的工业化进程中，“先污染后治理”的发展路径在创造巨大物质财富的同时，也带来了十分惨痛的代价。上世纪发生在西方国家的“世界八大公害事件”，如洛杉矶光化学烟雾事件、伦敦烟雾事件、日本水俣病事件等，对生态环境和公众健康造成巨大影响，迫使相关国家投入巨资治理，同时也引发了人们对西方现代化模式的深刻反思。当前，推动绿色转型已经成为国际社会的普遍共识。美国、日本和欧洲多国都纷纷出台国家战略和计划，把发展绿色制造作为赢得未来竞争的关键抓手；印度、巴西等新兴经济体也结合本国特点出台了相应的绿色制造发展战略。在全球经济格局和发展模式深度调整的大背景下，只有将绿色发展理念融入我国经济社会发展各环节，才能避免西方现代化的历史局限和弊端；只有通过发展绿色经济、切实提高绿色制造水平实现发展方式转型，才能提升经济发展韧性，从而在激烈的国际竞争中赢得发展主动权。

Meeting the People’s Needs for a Beautiful Ecological Environment

满足人民优美生态环境需要

The happiness and well-being of the people are the ultimate goal of promoting high-quality development. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, “High-quality development is development that can well meet the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life.” Adhering to the green development philosophy, promoting the prevention and control of environmental pollution, and strengthening ecosystem protection can inject lasting momentum into high-quality development.

人民幸福安康是推动高质量发展的最终目的。习近平总书记指出，“高质量发展，就是能够很好满足人民日益增长的美好生活需要的发展”。坚持绿色发展理念，推动环境污染防治、加强生态系统保护，能够为高质量发展注入持久动力。

The ecological environment is a major political issue related to the Party’s mission and purpose, and also a major social issue related to people’s livelihoods. On the new journey of the New Era, the factor conditions, combination methods, and allocation efficiency of China’s economic development have changed, and both the requirements and conditions for development have taken on new characteristics. In particular, the people’s aspirations for a better life have generally shifted from “whether they have it” to “whether it is good.” The people’s need for a beautiful ecological environment is becoming increasingly urgent; they look forward to breathing fresh air, drinking clean water, eating safe food, and living in a livable environment, with more personalized and diversified demands. Currently, the structural, root-cause, and trend-based pressures on China’s ecological environmental protection have not yet been fundamentally alleviated. The pressure for ecological restoration and construction in some resource-based regions remains relatively high. The development inertia and path dependence of traditional industries relying on resource factor inputs still exist. Mechanisms such as ecological value transformation, carbon sink trading, and ecological compensation still need improvement. How to better enable the achievements of ecological civilization construction to benefit all the people has become a key issue that must be resolved to promote high-quality development. Adhering to the green development philosophy can better guide us in coordinating pollution control, ecological protection, and industrial restructuring, further broadening the channels for transforming lucid waters and lush mountains into gold and silver mountains, simultaneously advancing material civilization and ecological civilization construction, and allowing the people to tangibly feel the improvement in quality of life and economic benefits brought about by ecological environmental improvement. It can be said that green development is an important link connecting the improvement of the ecological environment, meeting the people’s needs for a better life, and achieving high-quality development.

生态环境是关系党的使命宗旨的重大政治问题，也是关系民生的重大社会问题。新时代新征程，我国经济发展的要素条件、组合方式、配置效率发生改变，发展要求和发展条件都呈现新特征，特别是人民对美好生活的向往总体上已经从“有没有”转向“好不好”。人民群众对优美生态环境的需要越来越迫切，期待呼吸清新空气、喝干净水、吃放心食物、生活在宜居环境中，需求更加个性化与多样化。目前，我国生态环境保护结构性、根源性、趋势性压力尚未根本缓解，部分资源型地区生态修复和建设压力仍然较大，传统产业依靠资源要素投入的发展惯性和路径依赖依然存在，生态价值转化、碳汇交易、生态补偿等机制尚需完善。如何让生态文明建设成果更好地惠及全体人民，成为推动高质量发展必须解决的关键问题。坚持绿色发展理念，能够更好指导我们统筹污染治理、生态保护、产业结构调整等，进一步拓宽绿水青山向金山银山转化的通道，同步推进物质文明建设和生态文明建设，让人民群众实实在在感受到生态环境改善带来的生活品质与经济效益的提升。可以说，绿色发展是连接改善生态环境、满足人民群众对美好生活的需要、实现高质量发展的重要纽带。

Practicing the green development philosophy is both an important path to enhancing people’s well-being and a key focus for achieving high-quality development. We must adhere to the people-centered development thought, implement the green development philosophy, unswervingly take the path of prioritizing ecology and green development, resolutely abandon development models that harm or even destroy the ecological environment, and resolutely abandon practices that sacrifice the ecological environment for temporary local economic growth. Actively build a green, low-carbon, and circular production system, continuously optimize the industrial structure, energy structure, and transportation structure, fundamentally solve environmental pollution problems, and continuously improve ecological quality. Deeply fight the battle against pollution, focus on enhancing the diversity, stability, and sustainability of ecosystems, accelerate the resolution of prominent ecological and environmental issues that the people strongly reflect on, provide more and better high-quality ecological products in all aspects such as food, housing, transportation, and daily use, and allow the people to share the beauty of nature, life, and living in a beautiful homeland. Improve and perfect relevant systems and mechanisms, implement a comprehensive compensation system combining vertical and horizontal approaches, and promote the sharing of benefits between protected areas and beneficiary areas. Rationally define ecological and environmental rights, improve market trading mechanisms, and stimulate the enthusiasm of the whole society to participate in ecological and environmental protection. Explore specific paths to realize the value of ecological products according to local conditions, comprehensively use economic, legal, and other means to promote the realization of the value of ecological products, ensure that high-quality ecological products receive reasonable economic returns, and achieve a mutually reinforcing relationship between ecological civilization construction and economic and social development.

践行绿色发展理念既是增进民生福祉的重要路径，也是实现高质量发展的关键着力点。必须坚持以人民为中心的发展思想，贯彻落实绿色发展理念，坚定不移走生态优先、绿色发展之路，坚决摒弃损害甚至破坏生态环境的发展模式，坚决摒弃以牺牲生态环境换取一时一地经济增长的做法。积极构建绿色低碳循环发展的生产体系，不断优化产业结构、能源结构、交通运输结构，从根本上解决环境污染问题，不断改善生态质量。深入打好污染防治攻坚战，着力提升生态系统多样性、稳定性、持续性，加快解决人民群众反映强烈的突出生态环境问题，在吃住用行等各方面提供更多更好的优质生态产品，让人民群众在美丽家园中共享自然之美、生命之美、生活之美。健全完善相关体制机制，实施纵横结合的综合补偿制度，促进保护地区与受益地区利益共享。合理界定生态环境权利，完善市场交易机制，激发全社会参与生态环境保护积极性。因地制宜探索实现生态产品价值的具体路径，综合运用经济、法律等多种手段，促进生态产品价值实现，让优质生态产品获得合理的经济回报，实现生态文明建设与经济社会发展相得益彰。

Promoting the Green Transformation of the Development Model

推动发展方式绿色转型

In his report to the 20th National Congress of the CPC, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized, “Promoting green and low-carbon development in economic and society is a key link in achieving high-quality development.” Green development is a transcendence of traditional development concepts and, moreover, an action guide for promoting the green transformation of the development model.

习近平总书记在党的二十大报告中强调，“推动经济社会发展绿色化、低碳化是实现高质量发展的关键环节”。绿色发展是对传统发展理念的超越，更是推动发展方式绿色转型的行动指南。

At present, China is still in the middle-to-late stage of industrialization and urbanization development, and there is a strong coupling relationship between economic development and energy consumption and carbon emissions. Achieving high-quality development faces problems such as gradually rising labor costs and resource and environmental carrying capacity reaching a bottleneck, making it necessary to accelerate the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development. The concept of green development emphasizes protecting in development and developing in protection, achieving coordination between economic and social development and population, resources, and the environment. It requires clarifying the green orientation in industrial development and technological innovation, promoting the smooth succession and transformation of old and new driving forces, and achieving the healthy development of the economy and society. Specifically, it can be understood in depth from the following two aspects. On the one hand, the concept of green development leads the optimization and upgrading of the industrial structure. The concept of green development requires no longer taking the path of "hasty projects, draining the pond to catch all the fish, and GDP-only," incorporating ecological benefits into the evaluation system for economic and social development. This value reconstruction can guide relevant policy formulation and the flow of resource factors, promote the vigorous development of various green emerging industries and the green transformation of traditional industries. At the same time, it can also promote the green transformation of lifestyles, enabling the whole society to enhance conservation awareness, environmental awareness, and ecological awareness, making green consumption, low-carbon travel, etc., become new trends, activating the endogenous driving force of green transformation, forming a virtuous cycle of "demand pulling supply, supply creating demand," and further promoting the optimization and upgrading of the industrial structure. On the other hand, developing new quality productive forces as an inherent requirement for promoting high-quality development and an important path for synergistically reducing carbon emissions, pollution, expanding green areas, and increasing growth is also inseparable from the guidance of the concept of green development. New quality productive forces are themselves green productive forces, characterized by high technology, high efficiency, and high quality. An important purpose of cultivating and developing new quality productive forces is to achieve development with low resource consumption, low environmental pollution, and a climate-friendly approach. From this perspective, promoting green development is a basic requirement for cultivating and developing new quality productive forces. Guided by the concept of green development, it helps to promote the improvement of green standard systems in various fields and the growth of social demand for green products, using standards and markets to drive technological iteration and upgrading, providing innovation direction and market foundation for the development of new quality productive forces.

当前，我国仍处于工业化、城镇化发展阶段中后期，经济发展与能源消耗、碳排放存在较强的耦合关系，实现高质量发展面临着劳动力成本逐步上升、资源环境承载能力达到瓶颈等问题，需加快推动经济社会发展全面绿色转型。绿色发展理念，强调在发展中保护、在保护中发展，实现经济社会发展与人口、资源、环境相协调，要求在产业发展和技术创新中明确绿色导向，推动新旧动能平稳接续转换，实现经济社会的健康发展。具体而言，可从以下两方面深入理解。一方面，绿色发展理念引领产业结构优化升级。绿色发展理念要求不再走“急就章、竭泽而渔、唯GDP”的道路，将生态效益等纳入经济社会发展评价体系。这种价值重构能够引导相关政策制定与资源要素流向，促进各类绿色新兴产业蓬勃发展、传统产业绿色改造。同时，还能够推动生活方式绿色变革，使全社会增强节约意识、环保意识、生态意识，使绿色消费、低碳出行等成为新风尚，激活绿色转型内生动力，形成“需求牵引供给、供给创造需求”的良性循环，进一步推动产业结构优化升级。另一方面，发展新质生产力作为推动高质量发展的内在要求和协同推进降碳、减污、扩绿、增长的重要路径，也离不开绿色发展理念的指引。新质生产力本身就是绿色生产力，具有高科技、高效能、高质量特征。培育和发展新质生产力的一个重要目的就在于实现资源消耗低、环境污染少、气候友好的发展。从这个角度看，推动绿色发展是培育和发展新质生产力的基本要求。以绿色发展理念为引领，有助于促进各领域绿色标准体系的完善与社会对绿色产品需求的增长，以标准和市场推动技术迭代升级，为新质生产力发展提供创新方向和市场基础。

To promote the greening and low-carbonization of economic and social development, it is necessary to implement the concept of green development in all fields and links such as production, distribution, circulation, and consumption, so that economic and social development is based on the efficient use of resources and strict protection of the ecological environment. Comprehensively assess the energy and resource consumption and impact on the ecological environment of industrial layouts, while accelerating the "intelligent transformation and digital transformation" of traditional industries, promote the development of green and low-carbon industries, and promote the continuous emergence of new green and low-carbon technologies, new business forms, and new models. In the process of developing new quality productive forces according to local conditions, it is necessary to firmly establish the concept that protecting the ecological environment is protecting productive forces, and improving the ecological environment is developing productive forces, highlight the orientation of green development, take whether it is conducive to green transformation as an important criterion for evaluating and testing new quality productive forces, and through green technological innovation and the promotion and application of advanced technologies, promote the transformation of the development model and enhance the momentum of green development. Increase the intensity of institutional construction, improve and strengthen the evaluation and assessment system for ecological civilization construction goals oriented by green development, strictly implement the main responsibilities of enterprises and the regulatory responsibilities of the government, and build a fiscal, tax, financial, investment, price policy and standard system conducive to green transformation, providing solid policy and institutional guarantees for the green transformation of the development model. Strengthen the publicity and education of the concept of green development, guide the public and social organizations to participate together, so that simple and moderate, green and low-carbon, civilized and healthy life concepts and consumption methods become common practice, forming a good atmosphere for the whole society to jointly promote green development.

推动经济社会发展绿色化、低碳化，需将绿色发展理念贯彻到生产、分配、流通、消费等各领域各环节，使经济社会发展建立在高效利用资源、严格保护生态环境的基础上。全面评估产业布局的能源资源消耗和对生态环境的影响，在加快传统产业“智改数转”的同时，促进绿色低碳产业发展，推动绿色低碳新技术、新业态、新模式不断涌现。在因地制宜发展新质生产力的过程中，要牢固树立保护生态环境就是保护生产力、改善生态环境就是发展生产力的理念，突出绿色发展的导向，将是否有利于绿色转型作为评判和检验新质生产力的重要标准，通过绿色科技创新和先进技术推广应用，推动发展方式转型，增强绿色发展动能。加大制度建设力度，健全强化绿色发展导向的生态文明建设目标评价考核体系，严格落实企业主体责任和政府监管责任，构建有利于绿色转型的财税、金融、投资、价格政策和标准体系，为发展方式绿色转型提供坚实的政策和制度保障。加强绿色发展理念宣传教育，引导公众和社会组织共同参与，让简约适度、绿色低碳、文明健康的生活理念和消费方式蔚然成风，形成全社会共同推进绿色发展的良好氛围。

(The author is the Deputy Director of the Research Center for the Theory of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and the Party Secretary of the Inner Mongolia Academy of Social Sciences)

（作者系内蒙古自治区中国特色社会主义理论体系研究中心副主任、内蒙古自治区社会科学院党委书记）

Online Editor: Huihui

网络编辑：慧慧