What changed
Experts at a Beijing environmental strategy conference called on China to push its green transformation from “shallow green” to “deep green” during the 15th Five-Year Plan, the period leading toward the 2035 Beautiful China goal.
The proposals came from Ren Yong, Fan Jie, Yang Kaizhong and Yu Hai. They included:
- Linking ecological protection with land-use planning and regional development.
- Turning ecological services into economic value, with clearer systems for sharing benefits.
- Combining green, intelligent and resilient development.
- Reforming environmental responsibilities, regulation, markets, laws and digital governance.
These were recommendations, not announced binding policies. The conference was held in Beijing on October 25 and organized by the Environmental and Economic Policy Research Center of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment.
Why it matters
The important shift is that environmental policy is being discussed as an economic and administrative redesign, not only as pollution control. The proposals would affect where development happens, how ecological benefits are valued and how different regions share the gains from protecting land and natural resources.
That matters because China’s next phase of green development is being framed as a coordination problem. Environmental goals, industrial change, technology, local government incentives and regional planning are expected to move together. Fan Jie’s emphasis on converting ecological advantages into development advantages captures the practical ambition: protection should become part of the growth model, not a separate bill attached to it.
The outlook is promising but still uncertain. If these ideas become concrete rules, funding arrangements and measurable targets, the 15th Five-Year Plan could give green development a stronger institutional backbone. If they remain broad principles, the language of “deep green” will describe an aspiration more than a change visible in factories, cities and households.
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