East China’s Jiangsu province has taken the lead in the country in environmental protection over the past 70 years by retaining the green hills and blue waters.
In 1979, Jiangsu took the lead in piloting the collection of sewage charges for 15 enterprises.
In 1983 Yancheng established China's first tidal flat nature reserve
In 1996 Zhangjiagang won the title of the country's first environmental protection model city
In 2000, Jiangsu took the lead in the country to make a decision to build an eco-friendly province by targeting environmental protection and ecological conservation as top priority. The Jiangsu Provincial Environmental Protection Bureau was renamed the Jiangsu Provincial Environmental Protection Department, which is the first provincial-level environmental protection agency listed as a government department.
During the period of 2008-2009, Jiangsu successively established three environmental protection supervision centers in Southern Jiangsu, central Jiangsu and North Jiangsu, initiating regional environmental supervision mode by provincial environmental protection departments.
In 2009, Jiangsu drafted an ecological legislation, taking the lead in the country to draft regulations on the upstream and downstream water quality transfer responsibility system, emissions trading, and ecological compensation.
In 2013 Jiangsu Ecological Civilization Construction Plan from 2013 to 2033, China’s first provincial-level ecological civilization construction plan, was promulgated
In 2015, Jiangsu was identified as the only pilot province for comprehensive reform of the ecological environment protection system in China.
In 2017, Jiangsu took the lead in the country in formulating the implementation plan for the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, and introduced the local regulations for the protection of the resources of the first minister of the Yangtze River.
In 2018, 5 cities form Jiangsu are among the country’s 11 cities that were honored with National Ecological Garden City, ranking first in the country. The 13 prefectural cities in the province are listed as national garden cities, becoming the only province in the country with full coverage across the province.
In 2019, Jiangsu broke the administrative division and created the first environmental resource court in the country with ecological functional zones.
Since the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan", Jiangsu has seen its energy conservation and environmental protection grow at an average annual rate of more than 10%, ranking the first in the country.
Jiangsu has so far built 63 national ecological cities and counties and 21 national ecological industrial parks. Both numbers rank first in the country.
