3. Low-Carbon Industrial Transition Fueling Green Development

China has incorporated the concepts of putting the environment first and pursuing green development into its industrial upgrading. Through green, low carbon transformation of industries and the application of green, low carbon solutions, it has opened a new path to progress in both industrial development and environmental protection.

China is improving its industrial structure. Responding to climate change is a new mission for Chinese industry in its pursuit of green, low-carbon development, which also opens up new opportunities. The added value of tertiary industry made up 54.5 percent of China's GDP in 2020, 3.7 percentage points above that of 2015 and 16.7 percentage points higher than the figure for secondary industry. Strategic emerging industries such as energy conservation and environmental protection are growing rapidly and becoming pillars of the economy. Hi-tech manufacturing now accounts for 15.1 percent of the added value of industrial firms of designated size – with a revenue of RMB20 million and above per annum. During the 2016-2020 period, China effectively reined in the expansion of energy-intensive industries, and accelerated the upgrading and transformation of key industries, including petrochemicals, chemicals, and iron & steel. Having set the goal of reducing the overcapacity of iron & steel production by up to 150 million tonnes during this period, it met the goal two years ahead of schedule, and decommissioned facilities producing substandard steel products to a total volume exceeding 100 million tonnes. It is estimated that from 2015 to 2020 carbon dioxide emissions per unit of added value of Chinese industries fell by about 22 percent. In 2020, major resource productivity rose by approximately 26 percent from the 2015 level. About 260 million tonnes of scrap steel and 54.9 million tonnes of waste paper were reused, and the output of recycled non-ferrous metals reached 14.5 million tonnes.

The new energy industry is witnessing strong growth. The latest revolution in science and technology and industrial transformation has accelerated the growth of the NEV industry. China has topped the world in NEV output and sales for the last six years. In June 2021 the country's NEV fleet reached 6.03 million. In the manufacture of wind power and PV power generation equipment, China has established the most complete industrial chain in the world, and is the global leader in terms of technology and output. The steady maturing of China's industrial chain for new energy storage and the diversity of its technology lend strength to the clean, low-carbon transition of the global energy sector. As of the end of 2020, China had secured the largest share in the global output of polycrystalline silicon, PV cells, and PV modules, and led the world in PV capacity additions for eight consecutive years; it had exported PV products to more than 200 countries and regions worldwide, helping to bring down the cost of clean energy globally; its installed capacity for new energy storage stood at 3.3 million kW, the largest in the world.

Green, energy-efficient buildings are growing rapidly. Under its green development philosophy, China has made sweeping efforts to promote eco-friendly and energy-efficient buildings, in a bid to harness the full potential for carbon emissions reduction in the architectural sector. By the end of 2020, the floorage of China's green buildings had exceeded 6.6 billion square meters, with as many as 77 percent of urban buildings completed in the year meeting the green standard. The floorage of energy-efficient buildings had surpassed 23.8 billion square meters, accounting for more than 63 percent of the total floor space of urban civic buildings. During the 2016-2020 period, China further raised its energy conservation standard for newly built urban buildings. It improved energy efficiency over 514 million square meters of floor space in existing civic buildings and 185 million square meters in public buildings, and increased the share of renewable energy in energy use by civic buildings to six percent.

Steady progress is being made in green transport. China is firmly committed to energy conservation and emissions reduction in the transport industry. It has therefore devised a means of reducing energy consumption and carbon emissions while maintaining economic growth. With steady improvements to the integrated transport system, more bulk cargos are carried by train and ship instead of truck, and river-sea shipping and multimodal transport continue to expand. By 2020 the share of railways in China's total freight volume had increased by nearly two percentage points over 2017, and the volume of river and sea freight had grown by 3.83 billion tonnes compared to 2010. Between 2016 and 2020 the volume of intermodal rail-water freight grew by an average of 23 percent year on year. Notable progress has also been made in building low-carbon urban transport systems. As of the end of 2020, 87 cities on China's mainland had joined the national program to improve public transport, and 43 cities had launched urban rail transit networks. During the 2016-2020 period, trips by urban public transport exceeded 427 billion, signifying a steady increase in the proportion of city dwellers using public transport.