Few people realize that my country's environmental protection targets in its five-year plans were first achieved during the 11th Five-Year Plan period. Faced with increasingly severe resource and environmental constraints, the Chinese government decided in 2006 that emissions of sulfur dioxide and chemical oxygen demand (COD) nationwide should reach their peak and a turning point during the 11th Five-Year Plan period, meaning that by 2010, the total emissions of these two major pollutants should each be reduced by 10% from 2005 levels.

　　The determination to reduce emissions was encouraging, but whether it could be achieved sparked heated debate at the time. After all, the environmental governance experience of developed Western countries showed that a turning point only occurs after economic development reaches a certain level, namely, when per capita GDP reaches around $10,000; while in 2006, China's per capita GDP was only around $2,000.

　　From a strategic perspective, energy conservation and emission reduction are no longer merely issues of management and technological innovation, but have risen to the level of development positioning, endowed with multiple historical missions. These include addressing energy and resource challenges, reducing pollutant emissions, adjusting the economic structure, and implementing macroeconomic regulation, reflecting the central government's determination to protect the environment and China's willingness to be a responsible major power.

　　Through strengthened management, industrial restructuring, increased investment in pollution control facilities, and mobilizing public participation, China exceeded its 11th Five-Year Plan (2012-2020) emission reduction targets. The 12th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020) built on this momentum, adding two new indicators—nitrogen oxides and ammonia nitrogen—to the existing targets for sulfur dioxide and chemical oxygen demand (COD).

　　After ten years of effort, China's total emissions of the four pollutants reached their peak, achieving a pollution emission inflection point ahead of schedule at a relatively low per capita GDP level, far exceeding the environmental performance of developed Western countries at similar development stages.

　　The achievements of ten years of emission reduction have boosted the confidence of Chinese environmentalists; however, they have also made us keenly aware that the public's sense of environmental well-being has not increased in tandem with the achievements in total emission reduction. Therefore, shifting from total emission reduction to quality improvement has become the most urgent and crucial task in current environmental protection work.

　　Grasping the key to improving environmental quality and quickly addressing the environmental shortcomings in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects is not only the core content of an upgraded environmental protection approach but also a new tool for environmental governance to fully implement the five major development concepts of innovation, coordination, green development, openness, and sharing. It fully embodies theoretical, institutional, and practical innovation, presents the concept of coordination and openness in cross-border cooperation, and is full of the firm determination and service spirit to ensure that the people benefit from the country's development. It can be called a new milestone in environmental governance.