The General Offices of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council issue the 'Measures for the Evaluation and Assessment of Ecological Civilization Construction Goals': Assessment results serve as an important basis for cadre rewards, punishments, and appointments

The full text of the "Measures for the Evaluation and Assessment of Ecological Civilization Construction Goals" is as follows:

Chapter 1 General Provisions

Article 1 These Measures are formulated in accordance with relevant inner-party regulations and national laws and regulations in order to implement the spirit of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th Plenary Sessions of the 18th Central Committee, accelerate green development, promote ecological civilization construction, and standardize the evaluation and assessment of ecological civilization construction goals.

Article 2 These Measures are applicable to the evaluation and assessment of the goals for ecological civilization construction of the party committees and governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government.

Article 3 The evaluation and assessment of ecological civilization construction goals implement dual responsibilities for the party and government, with local party committees and government leaders having dual responsibilities for ecological civilization construction in their respective positions. It is carried out in accordance with the principles of objectivity and fairness, scientific standardization, focusing on key points, emphasizing practical results, and combining rewards and punishments.

Article 4 The evaluation and assessment of ecological civilization construction goals are carried out comprehensively on the basis of relevant special assessments in the fields of resources, environment, and ecology. It is conducted through a combination of evaluation and assessment, adopting annual evaluation and five-year assessment.

The evaluation focuses on assessing the overall progress of ecological civilization construction in each region in the previous year, guiding regions to implement related work, and is conducted once a year. The assessment mainly examines the completion of key target tasks for ecological civilization construction in each region, strengthens the primary responsibility of provincial party committees and governments in ecological civilization construction, urges regions to consciously promote ecological civilization construction, and is conducted once after the end of each five-year plan period.

Chapter 2 Evaluation

Article 5 The annual evaluation of ecological civilization construction (hereinafter referred to as annual evaluation) is organized and implemented by the National Bureau of Statistics, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the Ministry of Environmental Protection together with relevant departments.

Article 6 The annual evaluation is implemented in accordance with the green development indicator system, mainly assessing the changing trends and dynamic progress of resource utilization, environmental governance, environmental quality, ecological protection, growth quality, green living, and public satisfaction in each region, and generating a green development index for each region.

The green development indicator system is formulated by the National Bureau of Statistics, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the Ministry of Environmental Protection together with relevant departments, and may be adjusted according to the outline of the national economic and social development plan and the progress of ecological civilization construction.

Article 7 The annual evaluation shall be completed by the end of August each year.

Article 8 The results of the annual evaluation shall be made public to society and incorporated into the assessment of ecological civilization construction goals.

Chapter 3 Assessment

Article 9: The target assessment of ecological civilization construction achievement (hereinafter referred to as target assessment) shall be led by the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Environmental Protection, and the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, and organized jointly with the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Land and Resources, the Ministry of Water Resources, the Ministry of Agriculture, the National Bureau of Statistics, the State Forestry Administration, the State Oceanic Administration, and other relevant departments.

Article 10: The content of target assessment mainly includes the mandatory resource and environmental indicators set in the national economic and social development plan outline, as well as the completion of major objectives and tasks of ecological civilization construction deployed by the Party Central Committee and the State Council, with an emphasis on the sense of gain of the public. The target assessment indicator system is formulated by the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Environmental Protection, together with relevant departments, and can be adjusted according to the national economic and social development plan outline and the progress of ecological civilization construction.

Relevant departments shall scientifically and reasonably allocate and implement the assessment targets to each province, autonomous region, and municipality directly under the Central Government, based on the overall requirements of national ecological civilization construction, taking into account factors such as the level of economic and social development and resource and environmental endowment of various regions.

Article 11: The target assessment is carried out in the year following the end of the five-year plan period, and is completed before the end of September of that year. The Party committees and governments of all provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall conduct self-examination against the assessment indicator system, and before the end of June of the year immediately following the end of the five-year plan period, submit a self-assessment report on the completion of the objectives and tasks of ecological civilization construction to the Party Central Committee and the State Council, and copy it to the lead department of assessment. The implementing departments of relevant special assessments in the fields of resources, environment, and ecology shall submit the results of the five-year special assessments to the lead department of assessment before the end of June of the year immediately following the end of the five-year plan period.

Article 12: The target assessment adopts a method combining a hundred-point scoring system and the completion of mandatory indicators. The assessment results are divided into four levels: excellent, good, fair, and unqualified. The lead department of assessment summarizes the actual scores and relevant information of each region, proposes suggestions for the grading division and treatment of assessment results, and forms an assessment report, taking into account the results of audits of outgoing leading officials' natural resource assets, audits of outgoing leading officials' environmental protection responsibilities, and environmental protection inspections.

The rules for dividing assessment levels shall be formulated separately by the lead department of assessment in light of the actual situation.

Article 13: The assessment report shall be published to the public after approval by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council. The assessment results shall serve as an important basis for the comprehensive assessment and evaluation of the party and government leadership teams and leading cadres of all provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government, as well as for the rewards, punishments, and appointments of cadres.

Regions with an excellent assessment grade and outstanding achievements in ecological progress shall be commended and praised; regions with an unqualified assessment grade shall be criticized and the principal party and government leaders shall be summoned for talks and required to make corrections within a time limit; for principal party and government leaders and relevant responsible persons (including those who have been transferred, promoted, or retired) in regions with obvious ecological and environmental damage or frequent liability incidents, accountability shall be pursued in accordance with the provisions of the "Measures for Pursuing Responsibility for Ecological and Environmental Damage of Party and Government Leading Cadres (Trial)" and other regulations.

Chapter IV Implementation

Article 14: The National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Environmental Protection, and the Organization Department of the Central Committee, in conjunction with the National Bureau of Statistics and other departments, shall establish an inter-ministerial coordination mechanism for the evaluation and assessment of ecological progress objectives. They shall study major issues in the evaluation and assessment work, propose suggestions for the division of assessment grades and the handling of assessment results, discuss and form an assessment report, and submit it to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council for approval.

Article 15: The evaluation and assessment of ecological progress objectives shall adopt specialized assessment data identified by relevant departments, relevant statistical and monitoring data, and data results from natural resources balance sheets. If necessary, the leading departments for evaluation and assessment may further verify the data from the specialized assessments and other sources.

If the failure to complete relevant assessment objectives is due to non-human factors such as major natural disasters, after verification by the competent department, the scores of the relevant assessment indicators for the regions concerned shall be comprehensively determined.

Article 16: Relevant departments and all regions shall effectively strengthen the basic capacity construction for personnel, equipment, scientific research, information platforms, and other aspects of statistics and monitoring in the field of ecological progress. They shall increase financial support, increase the frequency of indicator surveys, and enhance the scientificity, accuracy, and consistency of data.

Chapter 5 Supervision

Article 17 Relevant departments and institutions participating in the evaluation and assessment work shall strictly abide by work discipline, adhere to principles, seek truth from facts, and ensure the evaluation and assessment work is objective, fair, and carried out in accordance with regulations. All provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the central government shall not tamper with, falsify, or instigate tampering with or falsification of relevant statistical and monitoring data. For regions where such problems are found and verified, the assessment grade shall be determined as unqualified. For those who engage in malpractice for personal gain, conceal or falsely report, tamper with data, or forge materials, resulting in distorted or untruthful evaluation and assessment results, the discipline inspection and supervision organs and organization (personnel) departments shall seriously investigate the responsibilities of the relevant units and personnel in accordance with relevant regulations; if suspected of crimes, they shall be transferred to judicial organs for handling according to law.

Article 18 Where relevant regions have objections to the assessment results and decisions on accountability, they may submit written appeals to the organs and departments that made the assessment results and accountability decisions, and the relevant organs and departments shall accept and handle them in accordance with relevant regulations.

Chapter 6 Supplementary Provisions

Article 19 The Party committees and governments of all provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the central government may, with reference to these Measures and in light of the actual conditions of their regions, formulate evaluation and assessment measures for the construction of ecological civilization targets for the next level of Party committees and governments.

Article 20 These Measures shall be interpreted by the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the Central Organization Department, and the National Bureau of Statistics in consultation with relevant departments.

Article 21 These Measures shall come into force on December 2, 2016.