Recently, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment issued the Implementation Plan for Environmental Impact Assessment and Pollutant Discharge Permit during the 14th Five Year Plan period (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan"), which systematically summarizes the progress made in environmental impact assessment and pollutant discharge permit work during the 13th Five Year Plan period and the challenges faced in the new situation. It clarifies the guiding ideology, basic principles, and main objectives of environmental impact assessment and pollutant discharge permit work during the 14th Five Year Plan period, and focuses on deepening institutional and mechanism reform, strengthening ecological environment zoning control, environmental impact assessment management, core system and capacity building of pollutant discharge permit, and other work tasks. The "Plan" is not only a special planning scheme for environmental impact assessment and pollution discharge permit management during the 14th Five Year Plan period, but also provides goals, ideas, measures, and key tasks for future work. It is also an implementation plan for top-level policy documents such as the "Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Deepening the Battle of Pollution Prevention and Control", the "Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Fully Implementing the New Development Concept and Doing a Good Job in Carbon Peak and Carbon Neutrality", and the "Notice on the Action Plan for Carbon Peak before 2030" in the field of environmental impact assessment and pollution discharge permit. The "Plan" is in line with the "12th Five Year Plan for Environmental Impact Assessment" (Huanfa [2011] No. 152) and the "Implementation Plan for Environmental Impact Assessment Reform in the 13th Five Year Plan" (Huanwei Impact Assessment [2016] No. 95), reflecting the continuity of deepening environmental impact assessment and pollutant discharge permit work, and providing strong support for helping to fight the battle against pollution prevention and control, coordinating efforts to reduce pollution and carbon emissions, promoting sustainable improvement of ecological environment quality, and promoting high-quality development.

　　1、 Highlight of Environmental Impact Assessment and Pollutant Discharge Permit Work during the 14th Five Year Plan Period

　　The Plan focuses on "improving the source prevention system with the environmental impact assessment system as the main body, and building a fixed pollution source supervision system with the pollutant discharge permit system as the core". It highlights the deepening of the "streamlining administration and delegating power" reform of environmental impact assessment and pollutant discharge permits, and the coordinated promotion of pollution reduction and carbon reduction.

One is to continuously release the dividends of reform. Unlike the environmental impact assessment reform during the 13th Five Year Plan period, which focused on canceling the qualifications of environmental impact assessment agencies and other administrative permits, and mainly characterized by "release", the environmental impact assessment and pollutant discharge permit during the 14th Five Year Plan period place more emphasis on institutional and mechanism reform, emphasizing fine management and operability of implementation, and continuously releasing the institutional dividends of reform. For example, for pilot projects that link planning environmental impact assessments with project environmental impact assessments and simplify project environmental impact assessment management, it is clear to explore and practice on platforms such as industrial parks and free trade pilot zones, which can prevent arbitrary and disorderly simplification while improving the efficiency of linkage management. For two types of construction projects, pollution impact and ecological impact, the Plan proposes to explore the formation of a differentiated full process supervision system. For pollution impact projects included in the management of pollutant discharge permits, pilot reforms will be carried out to deepen the reform of independent acceptance and post evaluation management.

2、 Strengthen the promotion and implementation of the 'Plan'

The Plan is a guiding document for the national environmental impact assessment and pollutant discharge permit work during the 14th Five Year Plan period. In the process of application and implementation, it should be considered that the actual management work is concentrated at the city and county levels, but the management and technical capabilities at the city and county levels are relatively weak. At the ministerial and provincial levels, collaboration and cooperation can be strengthened to jointly provide guidance and assistance. Relevant departments and personnel in various regions should actively study the relevant content of the "Plan", organically combine the implementation of the "Plan" with daily management and technical work, and achieve a balanced direction of reform, equal emphasis on "streamlining administration, delegating powers, and improving services", and smooth progress of key tasks.

One is to conduct in-depth publicity and interpretation. Strengthen the interpretation, promotion, and business training of the 'Plan', especially by enhancing guidance and training for grassroots management and technical teams. In the approval management, comprehensive administrative approval departments at all levels responsible for environmental impact assessment and pollutant discharge permit management should be included in the target audience for lectures and training. Considering the adjustment of the approval authority for environmental impact assessments and pollutant discharge permits below the provincial level, in the training process, the Ministry and the Province can work together to increase the publicity and training efforts for relevant personnel at the city and county levels. Overall, the city and city levels focus on approval management, while the county and district levels focus on supervision and law enforcement.

The second is to promote reform pilot projects in an orderly manner. The multiple reform measures set out in the "Plan", especially the pilot projects related to the linkage between industrial park planning environmental impact assessment and project environmental impact assessment, optimization of environmental impact assessment classification management, etc., should be carried out in an orderly manner in areas with relatively complete management capabilities and mature supporting measures, such as pilot cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen, while simultaneously strengthening and innovating regulatory methods. For regions with weaker management capabilities and technological foundations, it is important to avoid abandoning them under the guise of reform.

The third is to continuously strengthen technical support. The Plan will conduct research on key technologies such as pollution reduction, carbon reduction, and synergistic efficiency enhancement, as well as the systematic response relationship between pollution source emissions, environmental quality targets, and allowable pollutant emissions. It will also provide technical and information support for the implementation of the Plan, including the linkage of ecological environment zoning control, planning and environmental impact assessments, project environmental impact assessments, pollutant discharge permits, monitoring, law enforcement, and other system data. In the process of strengthening technical support, we should not only attach importance to the development of model methods, but also synchronize with practical cases, especially to make frontline management and technical personnel understand, use, and manage well.

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