At 10 a.m. on July 28, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment held its July regular press conference. The press conference was hosted by Liu Youbin, spokesperson of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment. Zou Shoumin, Director of the Science and Finance Department of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, introduced the relevant work of using science and technology to help fight the battle against pollution and answered questions from reporters.

Regarding the issue of ecological environmental funds, Zou Shoumin, Director of the Science and Finance Department of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, introduced at the meeting: During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment cooperated with the Ministry of Finance to manage four types of ecological environmental funds, namely water pollution prevention and control funds, air pollution prevention and control funds, soil pollution prevention and control special funds and rural environmental improvement funds. A total of 224.8 billion yuan was allocated during the 13th Five-Year Plan period.

First, 78.3 billion yuan of funds were allocated for water pollution prevention and control, with a focus on supporting ecological protection and restoration of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, horizontal ecological compensation for upstream and downstream of the river basin, and water pollution prevention and control in key river basins. The funds have played a great supporting role in reducing Class V sections in various places, establishing ecological compensation mechanisms for key river basins, solving black and odorous water bodies, and improving environmental quality.

Second, 97.4 billion yuan was allocated for air pollution prevention and control, of which 25 billion yuan was allocated in 2020, an increase of about 119% from 2016. The funds are mainly used to carry out air pollution control in key areas such as the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta, and the Fenwei Plain, including a winter clean heating pilot project. The funds have played an important role in air pollution prevention and control in key areas.

Third, 28.5 billion yuan will be allocated for special funds for soil pollution prevention and control, with a focus on supporting detailed investigations of soil pollution, control and restoration of contaminated soil, and prevention and control of heavy metal pollution.

Fourth, 20.6 billion yuan of funds were allocated for rural environmental improvement, which will support rural domestic sewage and garbage treatment, pollution control of livestock and poultry breeding below scale, etc., playing a very important role in improving rural environmental quality.

During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, we hope to continue to increase financial investment in the fields of atmosphere, water, soil, and rural areas.

During the meeting, Director Zou also briefed everyone on the progress of scientific and technological work since the 13th Five-Year Plan.

Zou Shoumin: Science and technology are powerful tools for solving environmental problems. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that the fundamental way out for breaking through the bottleneck of development and solving deep-seated contradictions and problems lies in innovation, and the key lies in scientific and technological strength. Last year's Central Economic Work Conference pointed out that we must fight a tough battle against pollution, adhere to the unchanged direction and unremitting efforts, and highlight precise pollution control, scientific pollution control, and pollution control in accordance with the law. Promote the continuous improvement of ecological environment quality. How to implement the three pollution control requirements put forward by the central government and achieve high-quality economic development and high-level protection of the ecological environment have put forward higher and more requirements for ecological environmental science and technology work.

In recent years, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment has earnestly studied Xi Jinping's thoughts on ecological civilization and important expositions on scientific and technological innovation, and fully implemented the decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on reform of the science and technology system. The ecological environment science and technology work has adhered to problem-oriented, demand-oriented and result-oriented principles, actively changed its working ideas, innovated its working methods, and made positive progress.

First, major scientific research projects are advancing in an orderly manner. During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, the investment in science and technology in the field of ecological environment has continued to increase, with the central government's investment alone exceeding 10 billion yuan. The major science and technology projects for water pollution control and treatment have completed the 13th Five-Year Plan task deployment, the first phase of the joint research project on the protection and restoration of the Yangtze River ecosystem has been successfully implemented, and the project on the causes and treatment of severe air pollution has now entered the acceptance stage. The Ministry of Science and Technology and other relevant departments have strongly supported the work of ecological environment science and technology, and have successively deployed more than ten projects such as research on the causes and control technologies of air pollution, the causes and treatment of site soil pollution, and solid waste resource utilization, which basically cover all areas of the ecological environment. These science and technology projects have laid a solid scientific foundation for winning the battle against pollution.

Second, the reform of the science and technology system has progressed smoothly. Our department has formulated documents such as the "Implementation Opinions on Deepening the Reform of the Ecological Environment Science and Technology System to Stimulate the Vitality of Scientific and Technological Innovation", vigorously promoted the deregulation and service of ecological environment scientific research management, expanded the autonomy of scientific research institutes and scientific research talents, strengthened the construction of scientific research integrity, and further stimulated the innovation vitality of the majority of scientific researchers.

Third, the transformation of scientific and technological achievements has achieved certain results. The Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Transformation of Ecological and Environmental Scientific and Technological Achievements was issued, and a national comprehensive service platform for the transformation of ecological and environmental scientific and technological achievements was built, which realized technical service functions such as achievement aggregation, information release, supply and demand docking, consulting and trading, and formed an ecological and environmental technical service system that combines the state and local, public welfare and the market, online and offline, and is open, shared, and unified, which has promoted the transformation and application of scientific and technological achievements.

Fourth, innovate the scientific research organization and implementation mechanism. Establish the "National Joint Center for Air Pollution Control" and the "National Joint Research Center for Yangtze River Ecological Environment Protection and Restoration" in the "1+X" model. Unite more than 500 superior scientific research units and 8,000 scientific researchers across the country to form a collaborative research model of "large-scale joint operations". Establish a "one city, one policy" on-site tracking research and assistance and guidance work mechanism, send 41 expert teams to Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Fenwei Plain and other places, and send 58 expert teams to cities along the Yangtze River Economic Belt, providing more than 500 technical solutions and measures to local governments, effectively supporting local governments to win the battle to protect blue skies and fight the battle to protect and restore the Yangtze River.

Fifth, a number of important scientific research results have been achieved. In the field of water environment, eight landmark achievements have been achieved, including the technical system and application of the whole process control of water pollution in key industries, and three technical systems have been established, including water pollution control in river basins, water environment management in river basins, and drinking water safety assurance. These have effectively supported the improvement of water environment quality in river basins such as Taihu Lake, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, the Three Gorges Reservoir area, and the Huaihe River. In the field of atmospheric environment, a technical method for quantitative and refined analysis of the causes of severe atmospheric pollution has been established, the causes of severe atmospheric pollution in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and surrounding areas have been clarified, and a technical system for joint response to severe pollution weather has been established, which has effectively supported the prevention and control of atmospheric pollution in key areas. In the field of soil environment, a demonstration project for the restoration of land contaminated by chromium and arsenic heavy metals has been carried out to provide scientific and technological support for the quality and safety of soil, human settlements, and agricultural products. In the field of ecological protection, a technical method system for the delineation of ecological protection red lines has been formed, which has supported the establishment of a natural reserve management system with national parks as the main body. In the field of solid waste, a number of key technological breakthroughs have been achieved in the utilization of bulk industrial solid waste into building materials, incineration of domestic waste for power generation, and safe disposal of heavy metals, which has driven the development of the solid waste recycling industry and supported the construction of a "zero-waste city". In the field of environmental benchmarks, my country's cadmium and ammonia nitrogen water quality benchmarks for protecting aquatic life were released for the first time, achieving a zero breakthrough in this field in my country.

At present, we are facing the end of the 13th Five-Year Plan, and our department is also actively planning the ecological environment science and technology work during the 14th Five-Year Plan. Specifically, it is facing the world's environmental science and technology frontier, environmental management needs, and practical problems in the battle against pollution. Establish four support systems, namely, to solve prominent ecological and environmental problems and improve the technical support system for improving ecological and environmental quality; to reduce the level of ecological and environmental risks, to build a technical support system for ecological and environmental risk prevention and control; to transform the ecological and environmental supervision functions, to build a technical support system for smart ecological and environmental supervision; to deepen the reform of the environmental science and technology system, to build a capacity support system to stimulate innovation vitality and improve innovation efficiency. Deploy 6 major tasks: First, carry out cutting-edge basic research on the causes and mechanisms of environmental problems and the laws of spatiotemporal and intrinsic evolution; second, strengthen the independent research and development of key core technologies such as ecological and environmental governance, monitoring, and restoration; third, carry out research on the methodological system of laws, regulations, standards, policies, and systems related to ecological and environmental supervision; fourth, carry out regional watershed governance technology integration and application demonstration; fifth, strengthen innovation platforms, talent teams, and discipline construction; sixth, promote the transformation of achievements and the development of environmental protection industry.

Focusing on these six major tasks, we will push the country to establish a number of scientific and technological projects, including coordinated prevention and control of O3 and PM2.5 combined pollution and precise management, watershed water ecological environment protection and restoration, soil and groundwater pollution risk control and remediation, hazardous waste environmental risk prevention and control and regional coordinated disposal, and marine ecological security and comprehensive management.

Source: Instrument Information Network