Environmental sustainability and Beautiful China: A study of indicator identification and provincial evaluation

Abstract

Beautiful China is a national strategic initiative targeting 2035 for environmental protection and green development. This study investigates the commonalities and differences between Beautiful China and sustainable development from the perspective of environmental issues. The logical relationships and concerning indicators are compared and discussed. We further establish the indicator systems for evaluating Beautiful China and environmental sustainability in China while performing provincial evaluations and analysis. Between 2015 and 2021, Beautiful China and environmental sustainability have improved by 23.74% and 15.05%, respectively. Environmental quality improvement played an essential role in building a Beautiful China. Establishing sustainable work-life ways contributed significantly to Beautiful China and environmental sustainability. Concerned level and location of environmental quality are significant differences between Beautiful China and environmental sustainability. North-south differentiations have been observed in provincial results of Beautiful China and environmental sustainability evaluation. The water cycle, ecology, and green development showed higher coordination and correlation with other fields, goals, and subsystems in Beautiful China and environmental sustainability. This study provides an informative reference for understanding the relationship between local environmental strategies and sustainable development goals localization for other developing countries and regions.