2020 CCICED Issues Paper: Recovering Forward

In 2018, President Xi cautioned that if “mankind conquers nature with science and creativity, nature will take revenge on mankind.” In 2020, COVID-19 reflected the extent of nature’s revenge on human and economic health. Plans for the ‘2020 super-year’ of climate ambition and nature protection have like all else been postponed. The structural aftershocks of COVID-19 are very likely to endure throughout the entire period of the 14th Five Year Plan.

This Note argues that the direction of the economic recovery should not point backwards to previously rigid economic models characterized by unsustainability, inequality and inequity, but rather forwards, towards high-quality, green development, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), de-carbonization pathways, and an Ecological Civilization construction. The 14th Five Year Plan represents a critical roadmap to enhance sustainable development, green innovation, green technology within China, and advance renewed or new forms of international cooperation.

Document Type: Issues Papers Year: 2020 Phase: Phase VI (2017-2022) Concluded