In recent years, climate change and extreme weather events have occurred frequently, bringing severe challenges to human survival and development. In the context of global cooperation to address climate change, the relationship between development and environmental protection has become the focus of attention of major economies and international organizations, and green has become a topic of extensive discussion. At the end of 2023, the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) conducted the first global review of the Paris Agreement, promoting solid steps in the global response to climate change. Mankind still faces many challenges in addressing climate change and promoting green and low-carbon transformation, and it is necessary to strengthen green development cooperation, break down various green barriers, and jointly promote the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development.
Green** has become the focus of attention of the international community.
As the impact of global climate change intensifies, countries are actively exploring green and low-carbon development paths and participating in global climate governance, and more than 130 countries have announced that they will achieve net-zero emissions by the middle of the 21st century. In September 2020, China announced that it would strive to peak carbon emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060, contributing to the global response to and mitigation of climate change. Major powers have stepped up international cooperation on climate change, and China and the EU have engaged in a lot of practical cooperation on key issues such as renewable energy and carbon capture and storage through the establishment and development of climate change partnerships. In November 2023, China and the United States jointly issued the Sunshine Country Statement on Strengthening Cooperation to Address the Climate Crisis, proposing to commit to the effective implementation of the Paris Agreement and its decisions, which has been widely praised by the international community.
In the context of global cooperation to address climate change, the relationship between development and environmental protection has become the focus of attention of major economies and international organizations. The impact of the international cross-border movement of goods and services on the environment is one of the important contents of the multilateral system. As early as 1994, the Uruguay Round of negotiations on tariffs and agreements resulted in the Decision on the Environment and the Environment. The World Organization (WTO) established the Committee on the Environment and the Environment, which is responsible for the issue of the Environment and the Environment. In 2014, 14 WTO members issued a statement to formally launch negotiations on the Agreement on Environmental Goods in the form of open-ended plurilateral negotiations, aiming to achieve tariff reductions and reductions for environmental goods and promote freedom of environmental goods**, with a total of 18 rounds of negotiations held as of December 2016. The negotiating members, which account for about 90% of the global market share of environmental goods**, have stalled and have not yet resumed due to disagreements between members on the types of environmental products covered by the agreement, the extent and scope of tariff reductions on environmental products.
The term "green" has appeared many times in domestic and foreign policy documents, and the international community has reached a certain consensus on promoting green**. Agenda 21, Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, Report of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, Global Sustainable Development Report and other documents emphasize that the environment and the environment complement each other, coordinate and promote each other. In 2021, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) released "Green International**: The Way Forward", which mentions green several times and proposes to build an environment and **20 agenda, including strengthening environmental policies related to the environment, promoting the upgrading of environmental regulations in policies and agreements, and promoting cooperation between the environment and the environment. Policy documents such as the EU's Adaptation to Climate Change: Towards a European Framework for Action focus on green**, in which green ** has two main meanings, namely green ** measures and green products**.
At present, official documents and academic circles have not reached a unified definition of the concept and connotation of green**. Broadly speaking, green refers to economic activities that meet green standards in production, distribution, circulation, consumption and other links, including domestic and international; In a narrow sense, green refers to economic activities that prevent threats to the natural environment and damage to human health due to activities in products, so as to achieve sustainable development. This new form of ** not only focuses on the actual costs incurred in the market, but also incorporates environmental costs into the scope of cost accounting.
Global green** is growing steadily.
The pace of global green and low-carbon transformation is accelerating, and more and more countries will take the development of green ** as an important starting point to promote economic transformation and improve the international competitiveness and voice of low-carbon fields, and green ** represented by environmental products plays an important role in international ** development.
Global green** has generally maintained steady growth. From 2013 to 2022, the average annual growth rate of the total global green** import and export value was 085%, reaching 6. in the first three quarters of 2023$5 trillion. The fluctuation of the scale of green** is basically in line with the global cargo**, and the proportion is stable between 20% and 23%. In 2022, global goods** will grow significantly, and the proportion of green** will decrease slightly, accounting for about 18 of the total import and export value17%；China's total import and export volume of green ** is 10,792800 million US dollars, accounting for 122%, an increase of 2 from 20133 percentage points.
Developed countries and regions are at the forefront of green development. From the perspective of the total global green** import and export volume in 2022, the European Union, the United States and China are the top three, accounting for about 40% in total, and Japan, the United Kingdom, South Korea and other countries are in the forefront. In the first three quarters of 2023, the top 10 countries (regions) in terms of green ** scale are the European Union, the United States, China, Japan, the United Kingdom, Mexico, South Korea, Canada, Singapore and India, accounting for the total global green** import and export value7% and 23%, accounting for 616%。
Environmental protection technology products occupy a dominant position in green **. In terms of product categories, environmental protection technology, carbon capture and storage, and renewable energy products are among the top imports and exports. In the first three quarters of 2023, the total import and export value of these three categories of products was 39 trillion dollars, 26 trillion dollars and 19 trillion dollars. In terms of growth rate, other environmentally friendly, carbon capture and storage, and environmentally friendly technology products are at the forefront. From 2013 to 2022, the average annual growth rate of the total import and export volume of the above three categories of products was4% and 38%。
Responding to climate change and promoting green and low-carbon transformation have become a global consensus, and green has become an important part of the world. In this context, the global green ** scale is growing steadily, the list of environmental products is expected to be further expanded, and the market participants will be more diversified.
China's green** development has achieved remarkable results.
China has made a series of arrangements for the development of green **. For example, in November 2019, the "Guiding Opinions of the Communist Party of China on Promoting High-quality Development" proposed to promote the coordinated development of the Communist Party of China and the environment. In February 2021, the "Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Establishment and Improvement of a Green, Low-Carbon and Circular Development Economic System" proposed to "establish a green system", emphasizing the active optimization of the first structure and the vigorous development of high-quality, high-value-added green products. The 14th Five-Year Plan for High-quality Development of Foreign Countries regards "building a green system" as one of the ten key tasks, and proposes four measures: establishing a green and low-carbon standard and certification system, building a green development platform, creating a good policy environment for green development, and solidly carrying out green and low-carbon cooperation. For many years, China has been at the forefront of global green**. In 2020 and 2021, China became the world's largest green** economy for two consecutive years, accounting for about 13% of the world's total imports and exports. In 2022, China's green ** scale ranked third in the world, and it is also the world's largest green** exporter and third largest importer.
The scale of imports and exports has grown steadily. From 2013 to 2022, China's total green** import and export volume increased from 8144$300 million to $10,792$800 million, an increase of about 32 in 10 years5%, with an average annual growth rate of 32%。Among them, the export value increased from 4957$900 million to $6,916400 million US dollars, with an average annual growth rate of 38%, accounting for 192%；The import value increased from 3186$400 million to $387.6400 million US dollars, with an average annual growth rate of 22%, accounting for 14 percent of the total imports of goods3%。At the same time, the global proportion of green ** scale has steadily increased, from 99% to 12 in 20222%, of which exports accounted for 121% increased to 16%, and the proportion of imports increased from 78% to 86%。
Green ** is mainly based on environmental protection technology products. In terms of product categories, in the first three quarters of 2023, the total import and export value of environmental protection technology, carbon capture and storage, and renewable energy products ranked first, with 5,551100 million US dollars, 3057$600 million and $163.9 billion. From the perspective of the proportion of global green **, the total import and export volume of environmental protection technology products in the first three quarters of 2023 accounted for 14 of the world's similar products3%；This is followed by waste treatment and water pollution control equipment, accounting for 13 percent of the global total9%；Carbon capture and storage products accounted for 119%, and renewable energy products accounted for 86%, and other environmentally friendly products account for 79%, and air pollution control equipment accounted for 72%。In addition, the "new three" represented by electric manned vehicles, lithium-ion batteries, and solar cells have become a new driving force for foreign trade growth, and the export volume will exceed the trillion yuan mark for the first time in 2023, a year-on-year increase of 299%。
Diversification of the import market. In the first three quarters of 2023, the United States, Germany and Japan are the top three green importers in China, with an import value of 331200 million US dollars, 309400 million and 306100 million US dollars, accounting for 35% of China's green ** imports3%。In recent years, this proportion has decreased, and the proportion of imports from Malaysia, South Korea, Russia and other countries has increased, and the import market has shown a trend of diversification.
The regional development pattern presents "one belt and one axis". The "One Belt" refers to the coastal development belt where the three core areas of the Bohai Rim, the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta are clustered and developed, and the "One Axis" is the development axis along the Yangtze River formed around the Yangtze River Basin. China's eastern coastal areas have a developed export-oriented economy, a solid foundation for the environmental industry, advanced technology, high-end talents and other resources, and are active in green, accounting for 78 percent of the country in the first three quarters of 20233%。In recent years, with the improvement of the environmental industry system, the level of green development has been continuously improved, and the proportion of green in the first three quarters of 2023 will be 73%。The economic foundation of the central and western regions (except Sichuan and Chongqing) is relatively weak, with a relatively low proportion of green ** but a fast growth rate, and the amount of green ** in the first three quarters of 2023 will increase by 7 year-on-year5%, with great development potential.
Low-carbon rules have brought about profound changes.
Addressing climate change has become an international consensus, and international low-carbon rules have gradually become an important issue in global political, economic and social development, and are the focus of attention and games of many parties. At present, although the process of low-carbon rules has slowed down in multilateral mechanisms such as the United Nations, positive progress has been made in international institutions such as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the breadth and depth of free agreements continue to expand.
Key international institutions are advancing low-carbon rules. In 2012, APEC members reached a list of environmental products containing 54 6-digit customs tariff numbers, covering air pollution control, solid waste and hazardous waste disposal, renewable energy, wastewater and drinking water treatment, natural risk management, environmental monitoring and analysis equipment, environmentally friendly products and other fields, which is the world's first substantial agreement to promote the liberalization of environmental products. In 2021, the International Monetary Organization (IMO) proposed to raise the carbon price level and set a carbon price floor for the world's major carbon emitters under the G20 framework, taking into account the development stage and historical emission responsibilities. The OECD has long been concerned about the carbon pricing mechanism, pointing out that carbon pricing is the most important policy tool to deal with climate change, and proposes to establish an inclusive framework for explicit and implicit carbon pricing, and provide a quantitative analysis framework for carbon leakage through unified standards under the inclusive framework, so as to promote policy coordination and achieve the global net-zero emission goal.
Countries have established carbon pricing systems. In order to establish effective economic means to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the international community has begun to implement carbon pricing, which has profoundly changed the global green** cost structure. Emissions Trading Systems (ETS) and carbon taxes are two important carbon pricing tools. As of April 2023, there are 73 carbon pricing mechanisms in operation around the world, covering about 23% of greenhouse gases, and some countries and regions have announced that they will launch new ETS or carbon tax schemes. On the one hand, many countries and regions have established intra-regional carbon trading systems. According to the World Bank, the total transaction value of the global carbon market reached US$95 billion in 2022, a year-on-year increase of about 13%, with 69% of the revenue from ETS and 31% from carbon taxes. The more mature carbon markets mainly include the European Union Emissions Trading System, the US Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, and the New Zealand Emissions Trading System. In July 2021, China's carbon emission trading market was officially launched for trading, and the industry coverage was expanded in an orderly manner, making it the world's largest carbon market covering greenhouse gas emissions. On the other hand, Nordic countries such as Denmark and Finland began to levy carbon taxes earlier, treating them as a separate tax, and have built a relatively complete carbon tax system. Japan, Italy and other countries have implicit carbon taxes in existing taxes such as environmental taxes and energy consumption taxes; The carbon tax policies of the United States, Canada and other countries are only implemented in specific regions of the country or each state (province) formulates its own collection plan, and the implementation of the policy is still uncertain.
The low-carbon rules in the Free** Agreement continue to expand. With the increasing cooperation in the field of global environmental governance, environmental rules have become an important tool to balance liberalization and environmental protection. Although the multilateral process has slowed down, regional cooperation has flourished, and more and more countries and regions have included environmental protection provisions in free agreements as a topic, and the trend of expanding the scope of environmental protection, in-depth expansion of environmental rules, and integration of environment and investment has become increasingly obvious. Environmental protection has become an area with promising cooperation, and the environmental protection goals of all countries have been unanimously raised, and high-standard economic and trade agreements such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) have set up special chapters on the environment.
Improve the level of green development.
Under the new situation, the development of green ** is an important path for international cooperation to respond to climate change, and it is also an important driving force for promoting sustainable economic and social development. China will continue to practice the concept of ecological civilization, strengthen cooperation on green development, improve the degree of economic greening, enhance the level of green development, and make greater contributions to achieving the goals of carbon peak and carbon neutrality as scheduled.
Optimize the global green product and service structure**. Give full play to the advantages of local industries and green development, accelerate the transformation of green power, promote the application of green technology, encourage enterprises to give priority to the use of low-carbon, energy-saving, environmentally friendly, green materials and technologies for green design and manufacturing, and enhance the export competitiveness of green products. Support the technology, equipment, key components and raw materials of the green industrial chain, increase green and low-carbon products such as environmental protection and new energy, and encourage green consumer goods. Actively carry out energy-saving technology, low-carbon technology, green design, environmental services, energy conservation and environmental protection and other knowledge and technology-intensive services**.
Strengthen international cooperation in the green industrial chain. Promote the low-carbon development of upstream and downstream industries and related industries with green technology, strengthen international cooperation in green manufacturing, promote the construction of a green and low-carbon industrial chain cooperation system, and promote the efficient and coordinated development of high-end elements and the real economy. Coordinate industrial development and green transformation, improve the supply capacity of green products and services, and build a green industrial system. Adhere to the direction of intensification, greening and intelligence, and improve the utilization efficiency and green level of new infrastructure. Encourage enterprises to implement green procurement, promote green packaging, and promote green chain management. Develop green and low-carbon transportation and improve the green level of modern logistics.
Strengthen technical exchanges and cooperation. Reduce the cost of market access for green products and technologies, accelerate their global promotion, and improve the top-level design to respond to climate change. We will intensify innovation in green technology in the fields of energy conservation and environmental protection, clean production, and clean energy, carry out international scientific research cooperation and technical exchanges, and achieve breakthroughs in green and low-carbon technology innovation. Encourage enterprises, universities, research institutes and relevant international organizations to carry out exchanges and cooperation in green technology innovation. Deepen international cooperation in technology, equipment and services in the fields of energy conservation, environmental protection, and clean energy, and promote the exchange and sharing of green technologies and green services. We will promote developed countries to fulfill their commitments, provide financial, technological and capacity-building support to developing countries, and improve the level of green development.
Create a more open environment for development.
To continue to promote the high-quality development of green China, it is necessary to accelerate the construction of institutional systems, and promote international cooperation, green standards and certifications in the field of green and low-carbon, so as to create a more open development environment for green development.
Deepen multilateral, bilateral, and regional cooperation. We will work together to uphold the international system with the United Nations at its core, promote the full implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Paris Agreement, and actively participate in negotiations on emission reductions in international shipping and aviation. Strengthen cooperation with international organizations to promote institutional communication, technical exchanges, project cooperation, and personnel training in the field of green and low-carbon development. Deepen exchanges and cooperation with Belt and Road countries in the fields of green infrastructure, green energy equipment, green technology, green services, and green finance.
Promote international mutual recognition of green product certification and labeling. Promote the carbon label certification of import and export commodities of various countries, and promote the coordination and mutual recognition of carbon footprint parties of batteries and other products. Strengthen international cooperation in green power certification, promote the establishment of an international green power certificate system, and strengthen the research and formulation of international standards for the issuance, measurement and trading of green power certificates. Actively promote the formulation of international technical quality standards and norms, continue to improve the international cooperation and exchange system for inspection, testing, certification and accreditation, and strengthen international cooperation on green standards.
Deepen international cooperation on green finance. Promote practical cooperation in the field of climate investment and financing, encourage the development of green credit, green bonds, green insurance and other financial products, and provide financing support for key areas such as energy conservation and environmental protection, clean production, clean energy, ecological environment, green infrastructure, and green services. Improve the international cooperation mechanism for green finance, and strengthen the connection between green finance assessment standards, environmental and governance information reporting and disclosure, etc. Strengthen international discussions on green finance and jointly promote innovation in green investment and financing products and services. Actively participate in the research and formulation of international green finance standards, and strengthen the international coordination of the green finance standard system.
Improve the institutional system for promoting green **. Explore the establishment of a green ** evaluation index system. Promote the resumption of negotiations on the WTO Agreement on Environmental Products and the expansion of APEC environmental products, and support enterprises to launch more high-quality green and low-carbon products. Improve the green promotion system, support the research and development of green technologies and the construction of green public platforms, and promote the transformation and implementation of green and low-carbon technology innovation achievements with advanced technology, obvious results, high feasibility and strong popularity. Support the holding of green exhibitions and create a high-level, international green promotion platform.
Establish and improve the market-oriented mechanism of carbon trading. Give full play to the role of the national carbon emission trading market, further improve the supporting system, and gradually expand the scope of the trading industry. Strengthen the capacity building of carbon emission statistical accounting, deepen the research on accounting methods, and promote the establishment of a unified and standardized carbon emission statistical accounting system. Guide foreign trade processing enterprises to carry out clean energy substitution and reduce carbon emissions per unit of product. Coordinate and promote the construction of markets such as carbon emission rights, energy use rights, and electricity trading, strengthen the connection and coordination between market mechanisms, and incorporate carbon emission rights and energy use rights trading into public resource trading platforms. Promote the trading of green electricity certificates, promote green electricity consumption, and promote international mutual recognition of green certificates. Accelerate the linkage of the international carbon market, and promote the mutual recognition of China's carbon market projects and international carbon market projects.
Research Group of Green Economy and Trade Center of the Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce Writer: Xu Yingming, Zhang Jian, Li Xiaoyi, Xiao Xinyan, **Economy**).
*:Economy**.