The national ecological environment standard "Technical Guidelines for Ecological Environment Zoning Control (Draft for Comments)" has begun to openly solicit opinions, which will promote high-quality economic and social development and high-level protection of the ecological environment in China.

According to the drafting group of the "Technical Guidelines for Ecological Environment Zoning Control," by actively integrating and participating in macro decision-making and regulation of economic and social development, serving major development strategies, major policy decisions, major planning compilations, and major production force layouts, it will promote the formation of a spatial pattern, industrial structure, production method, and lifestyle that saves resources and protects the environment. At the same time, it encourages all regions and departments to deepen and expand the depth and breadth of the application of ecological environment zoning control, actively carry out pilot projects, be brave in innovation, and propose new ideas and methods.

In March 2024, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued the "Opinions on Strengthening Ecological Environment Zoning Control" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions"), which proposed the requirements for formulating relevant standards and specifications. In July, the "Decision of the CPC Central Committee on Further Comprehensively Deepening Reform and Promoting Chinese-style Modernization" proposed "implementing a regional, differentiated, and precise control ecological environment management system."

Advertisement

Many places have explored ecological environment zoning control.

According to the reporter of the First Financial Daily, in recent years, many places have carried out explorations of ecological environment zoning control.

Xiangnan Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture has undertaken a large number of industrial transfers from coastal areas in recent years. In 2020, the "three lines and one list" (ecological protection red line, environmental quality bottom line, resource utilization upper limit, and ecological environment access list) ecological environment zoning control system was implemented, and the ecological environment bureau of Xiangxi Prefecture and Xiangxi High-tech Zone collected basic data and materials on regional ecological environment, resource utilization, and social economy, establishing a "three lines and one list" at the provincial, prefecture, and high-tech zone levels and releasing it in a tiered manner.

The "three lines and one list" requirements for the industry have been written into the investment promotion policy, clearly encouraging the introduction of green enterprises that use clean energy, have low energy consumption, advanced technology and processes, and emit less pollutants, and providing more preferential support for such enterprises; strictly controlling the entry of enterprises with high pollution, high energy consumption, and high emissions. Since 2020, Xiangxi High-tech Zone has undertaken 15 industrial transfer projects, among which 4 enterprises have been awarded the title of high-tech enterprises.

Jimo District of Qingdao City has 24 hot-dip (immersion) galvanizing enterprises, and the industrial layout is relatively dispersed. After years of development, some enterprises have increased residential areas and other sensitive targets around them. In various levels of environmental protection inspections, complaints from residents about the odor of hot-dip galvanizing factories and other issues have been received, and accelerating the optimization of the regional hot-dip galvanizing industry layout, production process equipment, and environmental protection facilities has become the key to solving this problem.

During the compilation of the ecological environment access list, Jimo District required 8 hot-dip (immersion) galvanizing enterprises located in priority protection units and with sensitive surrounding environments to gradually relocate to industrial parks or industrial agglomeration areas to implement the upgrading and transformation of production processes, equipment, and pollution prevention and control facilities; for enterprises with pollutant emissions that do not meet control conditions and are small in scale, 8 hot-dip (immersion) galvanizing enterprises will gradually exit. The experience of Jimo District has also been promoted to traditional industries such as plastics and rubber products, home appliances and electronics, and equipment manufacturing in Qingdao City, and is currently fully guiding the high-quality agglomeration and development of various industries.

Tianjin City has a total of 314 industrial parks (agglomeration areas), and due to historical reasons, there are functional overlaps and scattered layouts in industrial parks and industrial agglomeration areas. In 2019, Tianjin City initiated the compilation of the "Tianjin Industrial Layout Plan (2020-2035)", which connects with the "three lines and one list" from aspects such as industrial space layout, regional leading industries, industrial development control lines, and thematic industrial parks, highlighting the requirements for pollutant emission control and environmental risk prevention, and promoting high-level protection of the ecological environment and the optimization and adjustment of industrial layout.By the end of 2023, Tianjin had 290 enterprises with performance levels A, B, and leading enterprises, with 21 enterprises awarded the title of "Pacesetter" for green development of the year.

Systematic and precise control is still insufficient.

Since 2017, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment has promoted the establishment of a regional environmental control system with "three lines and one list" (ecological protection red line, environmental quality baseline, resource utilization upper limit, and environmental protection access list) as the core across the country. It has formulated relevant technical requirements and management specifications, and by the end of 2021, it guided the provinces and cities nationwide to fully complete the release and implementation of the regional environmental control plans.

Wang Jinnan, Deputy Director of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference on Population, Resources, and Environment, and Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, introduced that China has preliminarily formed a regional environmental control system that covers the whole area, coordinates across departments, and integrates multiple elements. The country has divided more than 40,000 environmental control units, and formulated differentiated and refined environmental access lists according to "one unit, one strategy."

The compilation team introduced that China's environmental problems are complex and diverse, with significant differences in the form and mechanism of expression and causes at different spatial scales such as regions, basins, and maritime areas, showing distinct spatial differentiation characteristics. Overall, the spatial pattern of some urban development and major production force layout does not match the spatial pattern of resource and environmental carrying capacity. The systematic, precise, and guiding nature of the existing environmental element regional control is insufficient, and the spatial scale of the control division is relatively coarse. The division accuracy and the guiding nature of the control measures still need to be strengthened.

The compilation team introduced that China's environmental regional control technical standard system has not been officially established, and the existing technical documents are still relatively scattered, and most are trial documents. At the same time, the technical procedures and key points of some key technical links and technical content are not yet complete, and a more systematic and complete technical standard system needs to be formed.

The compilation team introduced that since the 1980s, Western developed countries have successively implemented a series of environmental spatial control systems, including spatial control of ecological, water, air, sound, soil, and other elements, as well as coastal control.

For example, in terms of ecology, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) has issued and updated the United States Ecological Regionalization Plan many times, dividing the mainland of the United States into 12 Level I ecological regions, 25 Level II ecological regions, 105 Level III ecological regions, and 967 Level IV ecological regions; in terms of water, the European Union's "EU Water Framework Directive" breaks through national administrative boundary restrictions, respects the boundaries of river basins, and requires member states to manage the water environment according to natural river basin boundaries.

Research on the implementation of differentiated control policies.

Environmental spatial control plays a preemptive, guiding, and foundational role in environmental protection. "The relationship between environmental regional control and territorial spatial planning is close, and they are consistent in basic base maps, ecological protection red lines, statutory protected areas, etc., but at the same time, there are significant differences in management objects, management scales, and management methods." said Wan Jun, Deputy Director of the Environmental Planning Academy of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment.Wan Jun analyzed that the territorial spatial planning needs to clarify the patterns of agriculture, ecology, urban development protection, and the permanent basic farmland, ecological protection red lines, and urban development boundaries from the spatial layout. The ecological environment zoning control requires the delineation of ecological environment control units, the implementation of the bottom-line requirements for ecological environment protection red lines, and the formulation of ecological environment access lists, which are important links in the source prevention system for ecological environment protection.

"The synergy of the two is conducive to promoting the formation of a spatial pattern, industrial structure, production method, and lifestyle that saves resources and protects the environment," Wan Jun introduced. According to the current national ecological environment zoning control plan, the scale of each control unit is about 10 square kilometers to 500 square kilometers, which can better support the needs for differentiated and refined management of the ecological environment. The territorial spatial planning zoning scale is refined through the planning system level by level, and finally falls to the plot and land, with a control scale of acres and hectares, far smaller than the ecological environment control units.

The above draft for comments clearly states that the ecological environment zoning control system is an important part of the source prevention system for the ecological environment and plays a fundamental role in developing "clear bottom lines" and "drawing borders". Localities need to focus on regional and basin outstanding ecological environment problems according to natural geographical conditions, socio-economic development, environmental management capabilities, technology, and data foundations, and determine the spatial scale and control requirements of control units according to local conditions, implementing differentiated and precise control for the three types of control units: priority protection, key control, and general control.

The draft for comments proposes that this standard does not redraw the ecological protection red line, strictly following the results of the "three zones and three lines" delineated in the territorial spatial planning for dynamic linkage.

Considering the needs for coordinated control management of pollution reduction and carbon emission reduction, the draft for comments adds the work content of assessing the synergistic impact of greenhouse gas emission control on environmental quality targets, clarifying the control of greenhouse gases and pollutant emissions based on the bottom line of environmental quality, and the environmental control requirements for key areas. It proposes "to carry out pilot projects for coordinated control of pollution reduction and carbon emission reduction in ecological environment zoning control, and to study and implement differentiated regulatory policies based on carbon emissions, pollutant emissions, etc."

Chang Jiwen, Deputy Director and Researcher of the Institute of Resources and Environmental Policy Research at the Development Research Center of the State Council, told the First Financial reporter that the implementation of a regional, differentiated, and precise control ecological environment management system maintains the overall pattern of China's ecological security. Functional zoning according to various elements, especially ecological zoning, is conducive to forming a natural protected area system with nature reserves as the main body, and promoting regional and national ecological security.