The first is "four more." The author once summarized the circular economy as “four more”: the circular economy is an advanced economic model that pursues greater economic benefits, less resource consumption, lower environmental pollution and more labor and employment. This "four more" is the spiritual essence of the principle of circular economy, and it is also the starting point and the foothold for promoting energy conservation and emission reduction. Among them, achieving greater economic benefits is the inevitable result of energy conservation and emission reduction; to achieve less energy consumption, energy conservation and consumption reduction; to achieve lower environmental pollution, can achieve the purpose of pollution reduction. To promote energy conservation and emission reduction, first, we must carry forward the fine tradition of energy conservation and emission reduction, use valuable experience to cultivate good behaviors and habits, and secondly, to exert people's wisdom, potential and creativity in energy conservation and emission reduction.

The second is "four different." Vigorously develop a circular economy and speed up the construction of a resource-saving and environment-friendly society. The meaning of “saving” in the past is different from the following:

In the past, saving, mainly refers to savings in the production process and consumption process. Today, when it comes to saving, it is required to start from the source, that is, when it is not in the process of production and consumption, it should be minimized in the design process. For example, in the United States in the mid-1990s, through the redesigned and innovative design of the super car, its safety standards, appearance, and comfort are the same as in the past, but its weight is only 1/3 of the original (materials for synthetic materials and polymers). Doubled, steel consumption reduced by 92%), fuel consumption is also greatly reduced.

In the past, speaking about saving, it was mainly advocated as a virtue. The key to saving today is to seek solutions to reduce resource consumption and environmental pollution. Compared with the energy conservation and consumption reduction work carried out in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the energy conservation and emission reduction work carried out now has many differences: First, it only emphasized energy conservation and consumption reduction, and did not mention pollution reduction; Only emphasize the need to save, not to waste, the result of not talking about high consumption and high pollution is that resources are unsustainable, the environment is difficult to bear, and the economy and society are difficult to sustain development. Third, it is only the people of the country to carry out energy conservation and consumption reduction. The society is very concerned about China's energy conservation and emission reduction work; the fourth is that the relevant departments of the State Council are focusing on energy conservation and consumption reduction, while energy conservation and emission reduction is a major strategic decision that the Party Central Committee and the State Council are vigorously pursuing.

In the past, saving, there was little or no consideration of the sharp contradiction between the limited resources of the earth and the infinite demand for resources by human economic and social development. To talk about saving today, it is necessary to introduce the law of benign circulation of nature into the large system of human economic and social operation. This is a higher level of circular economy, in order to achieve the goal of building a “resource-saving and environment-friendly society” and satisfying the construction. The requirements of a recycling society.

In the past, it was about saving, mainly to emphasize the use of resources. We must carry forward this spirit now. But today, saving is not only a problem of using less resources, but also a problem of cutting corners. Less use does not mean less and worse, or empty gloves and white wolves; improving efficiency does not mean cutting, uncomfortable or lacking, but “doing twice the result with half the effort”, that is, using half the effort to achieve twice the original effect, this is the circular economy. .

Schmidt Bücker, head of the Wupper Institute in Germany, believes that it is not too much to cut the material input of unit services to a quarter. For OECD countries, the plan to cut to 1/10 is very necessary. And pointed out that “reducing material inputs to 1/10 is easier than cutting energy inputs to 1/10. This is related to the physical stability of most substances.”

The third is the "four R" principle: the principle of behavior of Re-duce, Reuse, Recycle, and Rethink. This is the hallmark feature of the circular economy.