For the first time, the party explains how to build a "Beautiful China"

First proposed in 2012, “Beautiful China” stands as a fundamental principle of China’s central leadership in the realm of ecology and environment. As the carbon peaking milestone in 2030 approaches, there is an imminent need to clarify the guiding theory in the field of ecology and environment.

On January 4, 2024, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council issued the Guidelines to Comprehensively Promote the Development of Beautiful China (the Guidelines), providing the first roadmap to realize the “Beautiful China” agenda.

The Guidelines cover a wide range of areas. Most notably, the document emphasises that economic development must be constrained within the capacity of resources and the environment. This can be seen as a warning for falling behind the energy-saving targets in some provinces during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025).

Regulators will also introduce additional financial instruments and tailored policies to encourage green development by enterprises. For example, the Guidelines propose the inclusion of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) within the environmental protection tax, while also advocating for the adoption of tiered electricity pricing on a larger scale within various industries. This will incentivize companies to implement energy-saving and emission reduction technologies to mitigate any potential rise in production costs.