The outbreak of COVID-19 and the global pandemic have turned the construction of an ecological city from the “desirable” in the master plan text to the “extreme desire” in real life. The “ecological city” will not be realized naturally，it needs a prosperous ecological economy as the foundation and support. Ecological economy is an economy that significantly reduces environmental risks and ecological scarcity while improving the well-being of residents and social equity. During the 13^th Five-Year Plan period，Shanghai’s ecological economic growth has made significant progress，which is mainly reflected in：continuous improvement of resource and environmental efficiency，steady rise of natural resource base，significant improvement of environmental life quality，rapid development of energy-saving and environmental protection industries，and intensive release of environmental and economic policies. However，compared with leading global cities，Shanghai has a gap in environmental quality and ecosystem service levels，and its ecological economic governance capabilities have certain shortcomings. To further develop the ecological economy，it is necessary to comprehensively study the links between economic growth priorities and major resources，environment，and ecological challenges，and incorporate ecological economy into mainstream economic decision-making. On this basis，improve environmental economic policies，create a good environment for natural capital investment，and stimulate extensive social participation.