MEE declares full steam ahead on China’s environmental initiatives, including an NGDF, private sector finance, Yangtze River conservation, and the social credit system.

By Paul A. Davies and Zoe Liu

Xu Bijiu, director general of the general office of China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE), has given the clearest signal to date that China’s environmental ambitions will not be impeded by the projected slowdown of the Chinese economy.

Dismissing suggestions that increased environmental protection had led to downward pressures on the economy in recent years, Xu stated that China has, in fact, benefitted from a “harmonious, win-win relationship” between economic development and increased environmental protection. Xu confirmed that the pollution targets MEE set last year for the end of 2020 would not be altered, despite the fact that some areas of the country (such as Hunan in south-central China) missed their PM 2.5 air quality targets in 2019.