To fully implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and its successive plenary sessions, and to carry out the deployments outlined in the Central Committee and State Council's "Opinions on Accelerating the Comprehensive Green Transformation of Economic and Social Development" and the "Action Plan for Boosting Consumption," the Ministry of Commerce and eight other departments recently jointly issued the "Notice on Implementing the Green Consumption Promotion Initiative" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice"), which outlines arrangements for green consumption efforts during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period.

The "Notice" proposes 20 specific measures across seven areas to improve the green consumption incentive mechanism, covering sectors such as agricultural products, home appliances and furnishings, and catering and accommodation. It also clarifies supportive policies in finance and other fields, aiming to optimize the green consumption environment. The goal is to integrate policy guidance, market-driven initiatives, and public participation to promote the widespread adoption of green consumption behaviors, mature market mechanisms, and universal social consensus. This will inject green momentum into high-quality development, foster green and low-carbon production and lifestyles, and accelerate the green transformation of consumption patterns.

The "Notice" focuses on ensuring high-quality supply in livelihood-related sectors, positioning green as the foundation for high-quality development. It emphasizes enriching the supply of green products, increasing the availability of green agricultural products, promoting green home appliances and furnishings, and encouraging green consumption in the automotive sector. It also calls for enhancing green service consumption, developing green catering, green accommodation, and green household services to meet people’s aspirations for a better life.

The "Notice" highlights the cultivation of new growth points in green consumption, proposing the establishment of green supply chains, conducting carbon footprint assessments, and promoting green procurement, green products, and green packaging. It encourages the adoption of green consumption points, exploring the establishment of an online and offline universal green consumption points system, promoting green product certification and labeling, standardizing the collection of green consumption points at the retail level, and supporting public service providers in offering convenience or discounts to users of green consumption points. It also advocates for innovative green sharing, developing green leasing services, encouraging shared mobility, shared spaces, and shared goods to promote efficient resource utilization. Additionally, it emphasizes promoting green recycling, reducing the use of single-use plastic products, facilitating the recycling and reuse of waste items, developing the circulation of second-hand goods, and building a resource recycling system of "reduction-recycling-reuse."

The "Notice" calls for optimizing the green consumption environment by promoting energy-saving facilities and equipment and prioritizing the use of green electricity. It aims to popularize the concept of green consumption, encouraging consumers to adopt green travel practices, bring their own cups, cloth bags, and toiletries, choose low-carbon products with minimal packaging, and reduce the use of disposable tableware. It also emphasizes strengthening public awareness and guidance, encouraging community-based green consumption activities, and promoting the concepts of green consumption and low-carbon living. Furthermore, it focuses on cultivating green circulation entities and consolidating the foundational work.

To enhance policy support, the "Notice" proposes measures such as policy subsidies, credit support, and financial product innovation to strengthen financial guarantees. In the next step, the Ministry of Commerce will collaborate with relevant departments to guide local governments in implementing green consumption promotion initiatives, summarize effective experiences and practices in promoting green consumption, further expand green consumption, and contribute to the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development.