sci-tech innovation boosts green development
the white paper titled china's green development in the new era aims to present a full picture of china's ideas, actions, and achievements in green development in the new era, and to share with the world its experience in this regard. (photo: xinhua)
edited by wang xiaoxia
china upholds the philosophy of innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development, and takes innovation as the driving force to promote the comprehensive green transformation of socio-economic development, according to a white paper recently released by the state council.
the white paper titled china's green development in the new era aims to present a full picture of china's ideas, actions, and achievements in green development in the new era, and to share with the world its experience in this regard.
china implements the innovation-driven development strategy, and takes sci-tech innovation as the driving force for industrial structure optimization and green transition of the economy and society. the white paper noted that china's gross domestic r&d spending grew from 1.03 trillion rmb in 2012 to more than 2.8 trillion rmb in 2021.
from 2011 to 2020, the number of patent applications filed by china for environment-related technology inventions was close to 60 percent of the world total, making it the most active country in environmental technology innovation, according to the white paper.
emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, blockchain, and quantum communication have given birth to new products and business forms including intelligent terminals, telemedicine and online education, which have been deeply integrated with traditional industries, playing an increasingly important role in china's economic growth. to date, the country's digital economy ranks second in the world.
china's green industries continue to grow, while the technologies in the fields of energy and water conservation equipment, pollution control, and environmental monitoring meets the highest international standards. in 2021, the output value of china's energy conservation and environmental protection industries exceeded eight trillion rmb, said the white paper.
the renewable energy industry is growing rapidly, and the country leads the world in terms of the manufacture of clean energy generation facilities for wind and photovoltaic power, producing more than 70 percent of the global total of polysilicon, wafers, cells and modules. the white paper stressed that china's green development is benefitting both china and the world at large.
according to the white paper, china is also an active participant in international cooperation on clean energy under the frameworks of un, bri, g20, china-asean partnership, asean plus three, east asia summit, forum on china-africa cooperation, brics, shanghai cooperation organization, and apec.
