Recently, the Shandong Development and Reform Commission has implemented environmental management by tailoring regulations to specific regions, a "green ruler" that helps draw a bottom line and boundary for the establishment of a pilot zone for green, low-carbon, and high-quality development to ensure the exploration and implementation of related practices. As a result, a series of milestones have been reached.
Based on the environmental management unit, the pilot zone has transformed and upgraded traditional industries while cultivating and expanding emerging industries. In addition, it has made layout for future industries, accelerated the development of the digital economy, and sped up the building of a modern industrial system. In 2023, it cultivated 32 strategic emerging industrial clusters at provincial or above levels, with a total scale of 3.2 trillion yuan. It also focused on forming 15 provincial future industrial clusters with a scale of more than 320 billion yuan. The digital economy accounted for more than 47% of GDP, being three percentage points higher than the national level.
Moreover, the pilot zone has also leveraged the eco-environmental access list as a means to build and improve the "1+1+N" carbon peaking and carbon neutrality policy system, resolutely curbing the blind development of projects with high energy consumption and emission but low quality. By doing so, it aims to achieve the synergy of reducing pollution and carbon emissions.