(A translation of the published Chinese report by China Environment News)

BEIJING, March 1 (Wang Kunting, reporter of the China Environment News) Mr. Chen Jining, Minister of the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP), met with Mr. Eric Heitz, Co-founder and CEO of the Energy Foundation (EF), in Beijing today, when both sides exchanged views on deepening cooperation on environmental protection.

Mr. Chen Jining began by, on behalf of the MEP, extending welcome to the delegation led by Mr. Eric Heitz, and briefed them on the status quo of environmental protection in China. According to him, the Chinese government has been attaching great importance to environmental protection, which was already made a basic state policy in the 1980s, and been committed to addressing the contradictions between economic development and environmental protection. However, many environmental issues have emerged as China's economy has developed on a fast track in the past more than three decades. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the Chinese government has paid unprecedented attention to and taken unprecedented measures for ecological civilization construction and environmental stewardship. A host of new action plans and reform schemes have been rolled out, contributing to the important progress of environmental protection from awareness to practice. Among others, the water environment quality of major rivers have witnessed gradual improvement, and the share of inferior Grade-V sections have dropped sharply; the efforts of controlling air pollution are paying off, the area of acid rain has restored to the level in the 1990s, and positive results have been achieved in improving environment quality.

Mr. Chen noted that given the long-term and complex features of the environmental issues in China, it is unlikely to reach the goals in one step. Periodical goals shall be set up under the guidance of the long-term strategic plan while accelerating the transition of environmental management to a scientific, systematic, law-based, precise and information-based approach. The EF and the MEP have worked together on many fronts, yielding pragmatic and effective results. The MEP stands ready to strengthen cooperation in such fields as the cost benefit analysis of environmental policies, market and capital mechanisms for pollution prevention and control, and the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED), with a view to jointly tackling environment and sustainable development issues of China and the world at large.

Mr. Eric Heitz spoke highly of the efforts and achievements made by China in protecting the environment, and expressed the willingness to engage in active cooperation with China. He indicated that the EF will make the best use of the profound professional knowledge in existing project fields, beef up teamwork and innovation, and provide reference for China to settle environment issues, while making a difference in the world's sustainable development.

Source: China Environment News