1 Why Assessment

Assessment, with the role of natural stimulation and incentive, has always been an important means of mobilizing people’s subjective initiative toward the established goal of efforts and progress. Assessment plays an irreplaceable role in green development transformation. Especially in the early stage of green development transformation, the government often plays the role of an important advocate, promoter and organizer. At this time, the role of assessment is even more important and irreplaceable. This effect is mainly reflected in the following aspects:

First, assessment can mobilize the initiative and enthusiasm of green development subjects. Although green development has its inherent motivation, given the “positive externality” of green development, relevant subjects may not be able to actively promote green development. Therefore, in view of the overall situation of green development in a country or a region, it is necessary to establish and improve the assessment system aimed at mobilizing the initiative and enthusiasm of all green development subjects.

Second, the assessment can urge the behavior of the subject of green development. Green development is an ongoing process. The mobilization of green development subjects is just the beginning, and it needs to be constantly urged to keep forging ahead along the established track and goal of green development. Third, the assessment can correct the behavior deviation of green development subject. The assessment is helpful to find out the behavioral deviation of the subjects of green development and carry out necessary correction of the deviation through rewards and punishments, so as to help adhere to the direction of green development and achieve the goal.

Finally, the assessment can regulate the behavior of the subject of green development. Assessment helps to promote each behavior subject to constantly regulate their behavior according to assessment requirements (such as assessment methods), including behavior mode, behavior intensity, behavior progress, so as to help achieve the established green development goals or vision according to the overall deployment.

2 Who Will Assess

The question of who will assess is related to the various subjects of green development and their relations with each other. It is also highly relevant to the management system and legal system. Under China’s current legal system and management system, the subjects of green development assessment can be divided into the following six categories: First, the upper level of government as the assessment subject. This kind of appraisal main subject arrangement is quite popular in our country at present, also often is most effective. The assessment of the superior government on the green transformation and development of the lower government is often more professional, systematic, targeted and operable, so it is easier to find the problems and the crux of the problems, and the efficiency of the assessment is often higher.

Second, the legislature at the same level as the assessment subject. As a legislative body, it naturally has the function and responsibility of supervision and accountability to the administrative body. It is an inevitable choice to accelerate China’s green transformation and development to strengthen the supervision, inquiry and accountability of people’s congresses at all levels over the implementation of green development by governments at the same level.

Third, the professional departments at the superior level shall be the subject of assessment. This also is more popular assessment subject arrangement in our country at present. Green development and its transformation involve many departments, including land, water conservancy, energy, environmental protection, forestry, development and reform, and industry and information technology. Each department has different responsibilities in green development and its transformation. Strengthening the guidance and assessment of higher professional departments on lower professional departments can improve the capacity building of various professional systems on green development and transformation. In fact, the national development and reform commission, the ministry of environmental protection, the ministry of land and resources, the ministry of water resources, the ministry of industry and information technology, the ministry of finance and the state forestry administration all have assessment or evaluation methods for green development, which objectively play a positive role in the transformation of green development. In fact, the national development and reform commission, the ministry of environmental protection, the ministry of land and resources, the ministry of water resources, the ministry of industry and information technology, the ministry of finance and the state forestry administration all have assessment or evaluation methods for green development, which objectively play a positive role in the transformation of green development.

Fourth, independent third party as the assessment subject. Independent third parties should not only be the promoters and participants of green development, but also be the assessor of green development to assess and supervise the subjects and their behaviors. Independent third-party assessment boasts independence, objectivity, fairness, transparency and other natural characteristics or advantages. Of course, third-party supervision and assessment are still in their infancy in China, and they still face considerable obstacles and play a limited role. Fortunately, more and more independent third parties are deeply involved in the green development process, which has become an inevitable, good and irreversible trend.

Fifth, society as the main subject of assessment. As the assessment subject, society is a completely open assessment subject, that is, the progress and effect of green development will be evaluated and assessed by the whole society. This requires full disclosure of relevant information on green development and its progress, and the establishment and improvement of channels or platforms for social evaluation and assessment. In this regard, open evaluation or assessment platforms as well as objective, impartial and professional news media are necessary.

Finally, cadre is in charge of an organization to regard assessment as main subject. In China, cadres of party committees and governments at all levels are the key to the success or failure of almost all work, including green development and transformation. Strengthening the green development performance appraisal of party committees and government officials at all levels often gets twice the result with half the effort. Obviously, under the current management system and the cadre system, the cadre competent organs, namely the organizational departments and personnel departments of party committees at all levels, are often the most authoritative assessment subjects. In this sense, the inclusion of green development (transformation) into the cadre assessment system of the organization and personnel department is the concrete embodiment of the cadre competent authority as the assessment subject.

3 Who Will Be Assessed

The question of who will be assessed is related to the question of who will assess. At the same time, who will be assessed, fundamentally, depends on the green development of the main subject (structure) arrangement. The subject of green development is the object of green assessment. In this sense, the government, enterprises, institutions and so on are the objects of assessment. However, in view of the differences in responsibilities, rights, obligations and other aspects among subjects, the government is undoubtedly the key object of assessment, while various enterprises and institutions are the secondary objects of assessment.

The governmental assessment object is actually also quite complex. This involves the level of government, government departments, government and party committees and other key aspects or key issues. The first is the level of government. Our country has 5 levels of government, namely central, province (municipality, municipality directly under the central government), city (area, autonomous prefecture, league), county (city, district, banner) and town (town, street). Should we assess the central government’s green transformation and development? There are different answers to this question, which are also related to the question of who will assess the actions of the central government. Obviously, the central government attaches great importance to green transformation and development, and its efforts in promoting green transformation and development are recognized by local governments at all levels. That, of course, is no reason to dismiss the central government. It is essential for the NPC and its standing committee to hold the central government accountable for green development and ecological progress. There is also plenty of room for improvement.

Second, is the government or related government departments to be assessed? In fact, this problem has been troubling us. For a long time, we only pay attention to the assessment of relevant government departments, but the effect is not ideal. For example, although it is reasonable to hold environmental protection departments accountable for environmental pollution, the causes of environmental pollution are various and complex, including the weak supervision by competent environmental authorities, the actions of resource development departments and the systematic thinking bias of the government that only focuses on economic growth. Obviously, relevant work, including green transformation and development, should not only pay attention to the assessment of government departments, but also pay attention to the systematic and comprehensive assessment of the government, that is to say, the assessment of the main government leaders.

Finally, the assessment relationship between the government and the party committee. Is government or party committee to be assessed? Together? This point, for a long time, has been only the assessment of the government, but the assessment effect is not ideal. Why is that? This is determined by the special national conditions of our country. All levels of government in China are governments under the leadership of party committees, including major decisions on economy, society, culture, resources and environment, which must be studied and decided by party committees at all levels and then referred to the government for specific implementation. This determines that the party committee has the final say or decision-making power in all kinds of major issues and important areas. From this, party committee should have the main subject responsibility that cannot shirk. The General Offices of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the General Offices of the State Council issued in mid-august 2015 the Measures for the Accountability of Leading Party and Government Officials for Ecological and Environmental Damage (Trial), which clearly states that “Local party committees and governments at all levels are generally responsible for the protection of the region’s ecological environment and resources, and the leading members of the party committees and governments bear the main responsibility. This actually puts forward the same request to the party committee and the government main leadership and carries on the responsibility to investigate”.

4 Assessment Basis

To assess cadres, including leading officials of party committees and governments at all levels, concerns the immediate interests of cadres, the performance of party committees and governments at all levels, the implementation of major party policies and guidelines, and the building of the country’s governance system and capacity. Therefore, the assessment should be extremely serious, extremely strict, extremely careful, the assessment should never be made without evidence and willfully. There are two main types of basis for such assessment:

First is to be assessed in accordance with the law. Assess the requirements of party committees, governments and their main leaders in accordance with party discipline and political law. Specifically, assessment should be conducted according to the relevant discipline regulations of the party such as Civil Servant Law of the People’s Republic of China, Land Management Law of the People’s Republic of China, Water Law of the People’s Republic of China, Environmental Protection Law, Energy Conservation Law, Circular Economy Promotion Law and other relevant laws, as well as Disciplinary Regulations of the Communist Party of China.

The second is to assess according to regulations. There must be scientific, clear, fair and impartial assessment method. Absolutely avoid the arbitrariness and selective examination of “ad hominem” and “differential deliberation”. We should set up the idea that everyone is equal before assessment, study and formulate scientific and standard assessment methods, make clear provisions on assessment objects, assessment contents, assessment methods, assessment time, assessment place, etc., and obtain the majority approval of assessment objects. If necessary, the assessment method shall be reported to the party committee or the government at the next higher level for the record.

5 What to Assess

What to assess depends on the understanding of the connotation of green development, on the main contradiction and the main aspects of the contradiction that affect green development, and on the main work deployment and target requirements of green development.

According to the main connotation of green development, especially according to the responsibilities that party committees and governments at all levels should perform in terms of green development or green transformation and development, party committees and governments at all levels should focus on the following aspects in terms of green transformation and development: (1) industrial optimization and upgrading performance appraisal. We will focus on assessing the adjustment of industrial structure, especially in encouraging the development of resource-conserving, environment-friendly and ecology-conserving industries. The core is to assess the changes in the proportion of modern service industry or tertiary industry. (2) Green finance assessment. We will focus on assessing the change in the total and proportion of fiscal input for resource conservation, environmental governance and ecological restoration, and encourage party committees and governments at all levels to put more emphasis on using fiscal funds for green development. (3) Financial greening assessment. It mainly assesses the government’s efforts in promoting local financial institutions to focus on energy conservation and environmental protection, aiming to encourage and support the green development of finance and provide necessary financial support for enterprises committed to green development. (4) Assessment of work performance in resource conservation. We will focus on assessing the actual progress made in saving energy, water, land, grain and materials and the government’s actions in this regard. (5) Actual effect of environmental protection and governance. We will focus on assessing environmental changes in the atmosphere, water and soil. (6) Actual effect of ecological protection and restoration. We will focus on assessing the delimitation and protection of red lines for resources, environment and ecology, and the core is to assess the protection effect of basic farmland, forests, grasslands and wetlands. (7) Assessment on the construction of green communities and green institutions. We will focus on evaluating the actions and effects of party committees and governments in promoting green communities, party and government organs, and green schools. (8) Check whether there are major events in resources, environment, ecology and production safety. (9) Other aspects to be included in the assessment according to the requirements of green transformation and development.

6 How to Assess

Concerning how to assess, the first priority is to have an assessment method, including the assessment index system. There have been a lot of discussions and researches on the evaluation index system of green development or green transformation development, and the index system contains more or less indicators. The assessment index system of green development or green transition development is not discussed too much here; three points will be emphasized here. First, the indicators should be targeted to the problem or problem should be easy to appear in the assessment. These problems often include the insufficient attention paid to resource conservation, environmental protection and ecological conservation in the allocation and use of financial funds, resulting in a low proportion of such investment. In the process of industrial development, especially in the process of investment attraction, there is no threshold for non-green industries or the threshold is too low, which leads to the abnormal phenomenon of non-green industries increasing instead of decreasing. There are deficits in natural resource assets, including water, land, minerals, energy and biological resources, and the environmental quality of the atmosphere, water and soil. Party and government organs and public institutions have not played a leading and exemplary role in saving energy, water and land.

The second is to have a solid foundation of information and data. Both evaluation and assessment must be supported by data information. The assessment of green development or green transformation development, in particular, needs data information that can reflect the “green” aspects objectively, accurately and timely, that is to say, the data of changes in resources, environment and ecology are particularly needed. However, it is undeniable that the basic data information system related to green development, such as resources, environment and ecology, has not been completely established in China. There are many problems in the data of resources, environment and ecology. Inaccurate data cannot accurately reflect the changes in resources, environment and ecology. The problem that the data are not true and the false data information is not rare leads to the deviation of the ecological decision-making of resources and environment. Data information is not timely; this problem is more prominent, and as a result, the data cannot reflect the changes of resources and environment ecology in a timely manner, so it is impossible to judge, evaluate and assess the latest situation of green development. It is imperative and extremely urgent to establish and improve a comprehensive, systematic, accurate, real and timely data and information support system for resources, environment, ecology and other key issues.

Finally, a sound social evaluation and supervision system for green development should be established. Compared with the assessment of higher party committees and governments on lower party committees and governments, social evaluation and supervision can often play a more timely, more direct and more effective role. This needs to fully mobilize the enthusiasm of social supervision, but also to provide necessary data information and supervision channels for social supervision, but also to create a good atmosphere for social supervision. We must not retaliate against the supervisors of resources, environment and ecology (especially the whistleblowers), but must reward the supervisors and whistleblowers as necessary.

7 How to Use the Assessment Results

Whether the result of assessment is good or not depends on whether the result of assessment can be applied. Results not applied or not assessed are ineffective assessments and futile assessments. For this, want to examine and reward and punishment union to rise. For this, it is in need to combine assessment and rewards and punishments. In other words, the assessment results should be combined with rewards and punishments for cadres, including rewards and punishments for spiritual and material matters. Second, we should combine the assessment results with the appointment or removal of cadres for promotion, and practically take the assessment results as the basis for the appointment or removal of cadres. For this reason, the assessment of green development or green transformation and development must involve the cadre department in charge (party committee organization department and government personnel department) and the cadre discipline department (party committee discipline inspection department and government supervision department). Only in this way, the results of green assessment can be timely, accurately and effectively integrated into the cadre assessment system, and become an important factor affecting or even determining the appointment and removal of cadres, and the promotion and demotion of cadres.

8 Key Points for Strengthening Assessment in the Near Future

The assessment of green development or green transformation and development is a complex task with strong policy, scientific nature and systematic nature. It cannot be accomplished overnight. It needs to be pragmatic and gradual. From the perspective of the objectives and requirements of accelerating ecological civilization construction and economic transformation and upgrading, as well as the basis and capacity of green development assessment, the following tasks should be focused on in the near future: First is to strengthen the statistical work of resource environment ecology practically. Statistical work is the indispensable foundation of assessment; without statistics, there can be no assessment. To this end, it is necessary to further clarify the objectives and requirements of resource, environment and ecological statistics, adjust the indicator system of resource, environment and ecological statistics, clarify the responsibilities of relevant departments of resource, environment and ecological statistics, and ensure the authenticity, accuracy, credibility, timeliness and availability of resource, environment and ecological statistics. Second is to strengthen the monitoring of resources, environment and ecology. No supervising, no assessment. It is necessary to ensure the scientific, standardized, accurate and credible monitoring data of resources, environment and ecology. Human intervention and administrative tampering with resources, environment and ecological monitoring data shall be severely punished. The third is to speed up the resources and environment ecological information disclosure and data sharing. We will ensure that the people have a clear understanding of their surrounding ecological environment and the resource base on which they depend, so as to effectively supervise the resource, environment and ecological behavior of the party committee and the government. The fourth is to strengthen the evaluation of green development of cadres in office. Establish a scientific and effective assessment index system, highlighting resource conservation, environmental friendliness, ecological conservation and other aspects of the assessment indicators. The fifth is to strengthen the audit of leading cadres’ leaving office. The audit will focus on changes in the quantity and quality of water, land, minerals, forests, grasslands and other important natural resources, as well as changes in the environmental quality of the atmosphere, water and soil during the term of office of leading cadres. Finally, it is necessary to strengthen the lifelong accountability of leading cadres for their behavior of resources, environment and ecology. We should never allow cadres to sacrifice resources, environment and ecology in exchange for promotion, putting an end to rash decisions, hasty promise and buck-passing.