Li confirmed that 3.4 trillion yuan ($544 billion) will be invested between 2011 and 2015 to address environmental protection.

He said both a livable environment and a good standard of living are important to the people.

"With the improvement of living standards, people's demand for a good environment has been strengthened," Li said. "They want to live their lives in peace, with good work and a decent salary, but also with a blue sky and clean rivers."

Li said environmental industries should be seen as a huge market during industrialization and urbanization.

"Take the photovoltaic industry as an example. Domestic installation accounts for only less than 10 percent of the total output," he said. "We will support the solar power industry in the future to promote its sustainable and healthy development, opening up a larger domestic market for it. In 2020, the country's photovoltaic power installed capacity will reach 50 million kilowatts."

Li also emphasized the importance of applying more legal means to regulate behaviors and norms related to environmental protection and international cooperation.

Also on Wednesday, an executive meeting of the State Council, chaired by Premier Wen Jiabao, formulated a plan to develop a recycling economy by 2015, China National Radio reported.

The plan includes the establishment of recycling systems in industry, agriculture and service sectors. It formulates the construction of model cities, model enterprises and model projects of a recycling economy.

The meeting decided that a stimulus and constraint system should be built to improve the efficiency of resource usage, and environment-friendly consumption should be encouraged. It also asked government departments to improve relevant policies in taxation, finance, industry, investment and pricing, to strengthen regulation and supervision and to carry out international cooperation in a bid to facilitate the development of a recycling economy.

Ma Chao contributed to this story.

wuwencong@chinadaily.com.cn