New measures to assess whether provincial-level governments are effectively implementing the Beautiful China initiative were unveiled recently to promote green and low-carbon development.

The Beautiful China initiative is a national development strategy aimed at fundamentally modernizing the country's ecological environment by 2035 through a comprehensive transition to green production, low-carbon lifestyles, and large-scale nature restoration.

Issued by the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council on Thursday, the measures also aim to advance the initiative on all fronts and achieve a comprehensive improvement and fundamental transformation in the country's ecological environment quality.

The assessment will adopt a 100-point scoring system, with results classified into four grades: excellent, good, pass and fail, according to a document released by the central authorities.

The document said the office of the leading group for the Central Ecological and Environmental Protection Inspection and the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, together with other relevant departments, will formulate detailed scoring rules for the assessment.

The evaluation will cover the implementation of responsibilities related to the initiative, progress in achieving annual major targets and fulfilling annual priority tasks, as well as fund utilization performance and public satisfaction levels.

The annual major targets include the condition of the atmospheric environment, water and marine ecological environments, soil ecological environment and overall ecological quality, along with the prevention and control of solid waste pollution.

In a media release, the office highlighted a goal-and-problem-oriented approach as one of the key principles guiding the assessment. It said key and directional indicators will be established to address major ecological and environmental concerns strongly voiced by the public and to steadily intensify the campaign against pollution.

The document also noted that provincial-level governments that fail the assessment must take corrective measures promptly and complete rectification within the required time frame.

In addition, principal heads of provincial-level Party committees and governments may be summoned by the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee and the office of the leading group for the Central Ecological and Environmental Protection Inspection if rectification is not completed within the prescribed period.

According to the statement, China's top anti-corruption authorities, together with the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, will pursue accountability in accordance with regulations and laws where necessary.

The measures were made public as teams from the Central Ecological and Environmental Protection Inspection arrived in seven provincial-level regions, including Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces, for monthlong environmental inspections.

A key focus of the inspections will be whether these regions have properly implemented the Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization, according to a media release from the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, where the office of the leading group for the inspection is based. Inspection teams are typically led by ministerial-level officials.

The team assigned to Liaoning, for example, is headed by Cai Mingzhao, a member of the Standing Committee of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Central authorities unveiled guidelines in early 2024 to comprehensively promote the development of a Beautiful China.

By 2027, China is expected to see a continued decline in the total discharge of major pollutants and further improvement in ecological environment quality, according to the guidelines.

And by 2035, green production methods and lifestyles will be widely adopted, carbon emissions will have peaked and entered a steady decline, and the country's ecological environment will have fundamentally improved.