China's rapid economic growth has caused more than 1.3 trillion yuan ($20.5 billion) of damage to the environment, China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED) announced at its annual meeting in Beijing Tuesday.
The numbers have urged the Chinese government to accelerate the transition to a green economy.
The damage mainly includes pollution spills, deteriorating soil and vanishing wetlands. If other forms of ecological degradation are taken into account, the costs will be much higher.
"The basic measurement to test the effectiveness of an economic growth model's transformation is the decrease of environmental costs for development," Zhou Shengxian, minister of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, said at the meeting. "The key factor is the strength of environmental protection you have."
The blooming of green industries has presented a comprehensive change in China's economic structure and social management, he said.
"Green growth is central to the task of economic structural transformation targeted in the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15) and we should try our best to achieve that," Zhou said.
Companies such as IBM, GM and Wal-Mart have set green requirements for their suppliers.
The 12th Five-Year Plan has reduced the GDP annual growth target from 11.2 percent to 7 percent, illustrating the government's resolution to realize a green economy.
A report by McKinsey, an international management consulting company, predicts China's green economy will absorb 40 trillion yuan before 2030.
China is in a rapid developing industrialization and urbanization period, which inevitably faces great challenges.
According to a newly released report from the CCICED, China's rapid growth is based on excessive consumption, overuse and wasting of resources.
It also indicated a GDP oriented development model is the greatest barrier for China's green economy.
"The government's excessive intervention into the market affects the market's efficiency and some local governments have failed to play a role in supervision, such as mining exploits, pollution emissions and food safety," the report said.
Green growth means more than just industrial transformation, Zhou Shengxian said at the conference.
Source:cntv.cn