Chinese President Xi Jinping last month presented specific targets for cutting carbon emissions for the first time. This was seen as a starting gun for accelerating the green transition that China is pressing ahead with. ChosunBiz visits Yancheng in Jiangsu Province, a city that is achieving coexistence between "environmental protection" and "industrial development" under China's ecological civilization philosophy, to closely examine its sites of ecological restoration and industrial development. [Editor's note]
Green waters and green mountains are gold and silver mountains (绿水青山就是金山银山).
This is the guiding idea of China's 14th Five-Year Plan (2021–2025) and a concept first presented in Aug. 2005 when Xi Jinping, then the Communist Party secretary of Zhejiang Province, inspected a local fishing village. It means environmental protection and economic development are not in conflict but must coexist.
Xi's "ecological civilization" philosophy is also a code and guide to action followed by China's central and local governments. China's Ministry of Natural Resources carried out comprehensive land remediation nationwide to build a protection and management structure that connects from mountaintops to the sea.
In the case of wetland ecosystems in particular, more than 560,000 square kilometers are being maintained nationwide, and since 2021 local governments have managed coastal wetlands through a total of 63 marine ecological protection and restoration projects. China's ocean economy has exceeded 10 trillion yuan (about 1,969 trillion won), and its market share in offshore wind power installations and shipbuilding and marine equipment accounts for more than half of the world.
◇ Yancheng achieves increases in vegetation cover and bird populations
Among them, one city stands out for delivering notable results in ecosystem protection and restoration while achieving parallel growth in ecology and industry. Yancheng in Jiangsu Province on the Yellow Sea coast, facing Korea across the West Sea, is that city. Yancheng means "city of salt," named for the abundant salt production along the Yellow Sea coast. With a long coastline, vast tidal flats, and a wide hinterland, Yancheng is regarded as a key stop on migratory bird routes and a treasure trove of coastal wetland ecology.
Yancheng goes beyond simply protecting the ecological environment and manages it systematically. Its practice of nature-based solutions (NbS) is representative. This is a global standard established by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) with the goal of enhancing human well-being and biodiversity through the sustainable management and restoration of ecosystems.
According to the Ministry of Natural Resources, as a result of coastal ecological restoration projects, Yancheng's vegetation cover rose from 4% to 58%, and carbon uptake in the Yellow Sea wetlands increased by 16,000 tons annually, significantly strengthening the functions of the coastal wetland ecosystem. The number of birds also increased from 40,000 to 60,000.
◇ No. 1 offshore wind city… industry also puts the principle of ecological preservation first
Harnessing the strong sea winds of the Yellow Sea, Yancheng has also emerged as "China's No. 1 offshore wind city." As of Jul. 2024, Yancheng's offshore wind installations total 5.65 million kW, accounting for about 12.8% of China and about 7% of the world. Approaching Yancheng's coast, it is easy to see wind turbines stretching endlessly beyond the wide mudflats.
Yancheng is also one of China's first "carbon peak" pilot cities. Its goal is to reach a state where carbon emissions no longer increase by 2030 and to achieve carbon neutrality—"zero" carbon emissions—by 2060. Earlier, on 24th (local time) last month, Xi attended the United Nations (UN) Climate Ambition Summit in New York, United States, and said, "The green, low-carbon transition is the trend of the times," as he presented specific targets for reducing carbon emissions.
Yancheng is also intensively fostering emerging industries such as new energy vehicles, new materials, next-generation information technology (IT), bio-health, the digital economy, and the ocean economy. Each sector's industrial scale has surpassed 100 billion yuan (about 197 trillion won). The China–Korea Yancheng Industrial Park, home to more than 170 Korean corporations including SK, Hyundai, and Kia, is also located in Yancheng.
Xin Changxing, the Communist Party secretary of Jiangsu Province, said at the "2025 World Coastal Forum (WCF)" held in Yancheng on 24th last month, "In recent years, Jiangsu's gross domestic product (GDP) has grown rapidly while energy consumption per unit of GDP fell 13% in four years," and added, "In 2024, installed capacity of renewable energy generation surpassed coal power. Over the past five years, the wind and solar products exported by China helped reduce global carbon emissions by about 4.1 billion tons, and corporations in Jiangsu contributed greatly to this achievement."
Yang Zhen, vice chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), also said, "The 'green content' of economic growth is steadily increasing," and added, "We must achieve harmony between economic and social development and population, resources, and the environment, and turn a good ecological environment into a strong asset that supports the sustainable development of coastal regions."