Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Science, Technology and Finance Department

Recently, the General Office of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and the General Office of the National Development and Reform Commission jointly issued the Notice on Further Promoting Cleaner Production Audits in Key Industries (Environmental Office of Science and Technology [2020] No. 27) (hereinafter referred to as "Notice"). The Notice is another important document in the field of clean production following the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Promotion of Clean Production (2012 revised version) and the 2016 Clean Production Audit Measures, which is of great significance to further strengthen the supporting role of clean production audit in energy saving and emission reduction in key industries and industrial upgrading and transformation, promote the formation of a green development approach, and promote high-quality economic development. Recently, the person in charge of Science and Technology and Finance Department of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment was interviewed by a reporter of China Environment News on issues related to "Notice".

Q
What is the background and significance of the Notice?

A: The report of the 19th Party Congress put forward the general requirement that by 2035 the ecological environment will be fundamentally improved and the goal of beautiful China will be basically realized. Under the guidance of Xi Jinping thought of ecological civilization, through the unremitting efforts of the national ecological and environmental protection workers, the battle of pollution prevention and control has achieved good results, but the ecological and environmental quality improvement from quantitative to qualitative changes in the inflection point has not yet arrived, the "14th Five-Year Plan" still need to continue efforts. Cleaner production audit as one of the important institutional means of pollution prevention and control, can effectively promote pollution prevention and control from the end to the whole process of control, in the formation of green development play an active role.

In recent years, relevant national policies, planning and other documents have put forward new tasks and requirements for cleaner production.In June 2018, the "Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on comprehensively strengthening ecological environmental protection and resolutely fighting the battle of pollution prevention and control" put forward that in industries such as energy, metallurgy, building materials, non-ferrous, chemical, electroplating, paper making, printing and dyeing, agriculture and food processing, etc., comprehensively promote cleaner production transformation or clean In March 2020, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued the "Guiding Opinions on Building a Modern Environmental Governance System" in which it is clear to increase the implementation of cleaner production, strengthen the whole process management, and reduce pollutant emissions.

At present, the national level for the key industry enterprises clean production audit management to be further strengthened. With the revision of the "Cleaner Production Promotion Law of the People's Republic of China" in 2012 and the introduction of the "Cleaner Production Audit Approach" in 2016, as well as the continuous upgrading and improvement of the management requirements of cleaner production at the national level, some of the original policy document requirements have significantly lagged behind, and there is an urgent need for the national level to introduce policy guidance documents to strengthen the management of cleaner production audit in key industries, and further improve the key industry clean The national level is urgently needed to introduce policy guidance documents to strengthen the management of cleaner production audits in key industries, and further improve the mechanism for promoting cleaner production audits in key industries, to guide the development and promotion of local cleaner production. National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of highly consistent on this issue, the two sides decided to jointly issue the "Notice", the implementation of the Party Central Committee, the State Council's decision-making requirements, and jointly promote the work of clean production audit in key industries to carry out in-depth.

Q
Compared with previous documents, what are the innovations in the "Notice"?

A: The full text of the "Notice" contains a total of eight parts of the main content, respectively: to fully understand the new situation to promote the importance of clean production audit, solid promotion of clean production audit of key industries, the main responsibility for the implementation of clean production audit, and actively promote clean production audit model innovation, sound technology and service support system, strengthen financial security and policy support, and promote the construction of clean production information system, increase publicity and guidance.

Compared with the past, "Notice" has the following innovations.

First, it highlights the need to raise awareness of the importance of cleaner production to promote green development, requiring regions to implement the Xi Jinping thought of ecological civilization, strengthen the strategic height of ecological civilization, fully understand the significance of carrying out clean production audits, through in-depth promotion of cleaner production audits, to accelerate the formation of green production methods, to achieve high-quality development to provide strong support.

Second is to further strengthen the combination of major national policy requirements, in the "14th Five-Year" from the depth and breadth to continue to fight the battle of pollution prevention and control of the background, focusing on the air, water, soil pollution prevention and control needs of urgent industries as the focus of the current phase of implementation of clean production audit, the full implementation of mandatory clean production audit requirements, help give full play to the role of the clean production audit system in the battle of pollution prevention and control.

Three is to emphasize the specific design arrangements for the implementation of local cleaner production audits, requiring the provincial departments responsible for cleaner production audits to develop the region's cleaner production audit implementation plan (2021-2023), and at the end of the first quarter of each year the implementation of the previous year's implementation plan to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the National Development and Reform Commission.

Fourth, to encourage the local conditions of their own in the enterprise differentiated cleaner production audit mode, industry, industrial parks and enterprise clusters overall audit mode, the government to buy third-party cleaner production audit services pilot, the development of local industry cleaner production evaluation index system, technology-oriented directory, audit guide and case compilation and other aspects of innovative exploration.

In addition, "Notice" also in the application of cleaner production audit results, enterprise incentives and penalties, clean production information platform construction, clean production capacity building and other innovative requirements, reflecting the current national and local management departments, as well as clean production industry experts to improve the sound of cleaner production management mechanism, to help solve the difficulties and problems faced in the promotion of clean production audit work in the past, to promote clean production audit work in key industries in the future will play an important role in guiding.

Q
Notice" after the introduction of the recent work arrangements for what consideration?

A: First, in the near future will work with the National Development and Reform Commission, the preparation and convening of online meetings, the "Notice" interpretation and dissemination, so that all regions responsible for the work of clean production audit managers to understand and appreciate the spirit and requirements of the "Notice" to promote the implementation of the tasks.

Secondly, next year, we will hold a seminar on cleaner production audit at a later time, inviting cleaner production management departments, industry associations, research institutes and universities to participate in the seminar and experience exchange, encouraging all regions to strengthen communication, learn from each other, and jointly promote cleaner production audit work.

Third, will be closely combined with key work, research and development of industries, industrial parks and enterprise clusters clean production audit pilot program to promote the industry, parks and industry clusters of green, recycling, ecological transformation, while promoting the construction of technology and service support system to provide strong support for the work of clean production audit. Give full play to the clean production audit in the industry energy saving and emission reduction and upgrade the role of support, to help the "14th Five-Year Plan" pollution prevention.