Participants in the CCICED annual meeting applaud the presentations by keynote speakers. Wang Zhuangfei / China Daily

The CCICED suggested the Chinese government deploy a new development mode for urbanization and regional development to adapt to changes in the digital era, which also needs to be highlighted in the 14th FYP.

Liu said nearly 60 percent of China's population will live in urban areas by the end of 2020, with the proportion rising to about 80 percent by 2050.

"Urbanization is essential to deciding whether green development can be successful or not in China," he noted.

Clean and low-carbon urban power systems, electric cars, shared urban mobile systems, green architecture and urban spaces, eco-friendly infrastructure and green urban lifestyle all need to be encouraged, he added.

Scott Vaughan, international chief adviser of the CCICED, said China's wisdom in ecological civilization, including the use of red lines for eco-compensation, the application of large-scale spatial planning, advancing the country's rule of law and regulations, and a plan to build the world's largest carbon market, has been seen by the world.

While China is shifting from high-speed economic growth toward high-quality development, Vaughan said, "the emphasis on quality and how we look at quality green consumption, production embedded in the economic systems, I think is profoundly important".