Engaging with China's ecological civilisation

The document analyzes 'ecological civilisation' as a uniquely Chinese vision for sustainable development that integrates ambitious environmental targets with centralized state power and traditional philosophy. It argues that this framework is central to China's modernization project under President Xi Jinping, shifting from a focus on civil society engagement to a top-down, technocratic approach. While the 13th Five Year Plan (2016-2020) saw significant progress in meeting environmental targets and establishing a national carbon market, the report notes a recent rhetorical shift toward 'innovation-driven development' and challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and strained US-China relations. Ultimately, it suggests that engaging with China's green transition requires understanding its core priorities of stability, legitimacy, and security.

• Ecological civilisation is a comprehensive strategic vision that combines environmental targets, centralized state authority, and traditional Chinese philosophy to guide the state toward greener ends.
• Under President Xi Jinping, ecological civilisation has shifted governance away from the civil society openness of the 1990s and 2000s toward a 'top-down design' emphasizing tighter management and stronger authority.
• The 13th Five Year Plan (2016-2020) integrated ecological civilisation into a structural approach to policymaking, setting 10 obligatory environmental targets for 2020 covering land, water, energy, and emissions.
• China's environmental progress is characterized by extreme contradictions, leading the world in both the destruction of biodiversity and forest restoration, as well as being the largest greenhouse gas emitter while hosting the largest carbon market.
• The Chinese government uses the discourse of ecological civilisation as a rhetorical strategy to legitimize international environmental goals domestically by linking them to traditional cultural values, thereby avoiding the appearance of bowing to foreign pressure.
• By 2020, China reported meeting or exceeding several environmental targets, including a non-fossil fuel share of total energy consumption reaching 15.3%, which met the 13th FYP target one year early.
• There is evidence of a rhetorical shift in 2020 where 'ecological civilisation' was de-emphasized in central government documents in favor of 'innovation-driven development'.
• The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) represents a critical area where China's ecological vision must be applied; failure to green BRI projects could lead to a warming pathway of nearly 3 degrees by 2050.
• China has committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2060, a goal that is seen as a core component of solving the global climate challenge and aligning with the Paris Agreement.

APA

Buckley, L. (2021). Engaging with China's ecological civilisation. Green Economy Coalition. https://www.greeneconomycoalition.org/assets/reports/GEC-Reports/GEC-IIED-China-EcoCivilisationPaper-A4-Feb21-V4b.pdf

Chicago

Buckley, Lila. Engaging with China's ecological civilisation. Green Economy Coalition, 2021. https://www.greeneconomycoalition.org/assets/reports/GEC-Reports/GEC-IIED-China-EcoCivilisationPaper-A4-Feb21-V4b.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Buckley |first1=Lila |title=Engaging with China's ecological civilisation |publisher=Green Economy Coalition |date=February 2021 |url=https://www.greeneconomycoalition.org/assets/reports/GEC-Reports/GEC-IIED-China-EcoCivilisationPaper-A4-Feb21-V4b.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{buckley2021engaging, author = {Buckley, Lila}, title = {{Engaging with China's ecological civilisation}}, institution = {Green Economy Coalition}, year = {2021}, month = feb, url = {https://www.greeneconomycoalition.org/assets/reports/GEC-Reports/GEC-IIED-China-EcoCivilisationPaper-A4-Feb21-V4b.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }