A green guide for progress, protection

China's proposed ecological and environmental code is a major milestone achieved after widespread consultations with stakeholders and alignment with the nation's strategic priorities, experts said.

The draft of the code is expected to be ratified at the annual session of the National People's Congress, China's national legislature, currently underway in Beijing. It will become China's second formal statutory code after the Civil Code was adopted in 2020.

The code will further forge a solid legal foundation for China to achieve modernization with harmony between humanity and nature, Lou Qinjian, spokesman of the fourth session of the 14th National People's Congress, said at a press conference on Wednesday.

The code is expected to make legislation in this field more systematic, integrated, coordinated and timely, he noted.

The experts said it includes provisions that target emerging challenges such as human-wildlife conflict, and new parameters to tackle the climate crisis.

China's ecological and environmental code could also offer other developing nations a model for integrated governance, they added.

Lyu Zhongmei, vice-chairperson of the NPC Environmental Protection and Resources Conservation Committee, said the scale of input into the code's development has been immense.

The draft was delivered to the NPC Standing Committee for a third reading in late December. Lyu said she personally passed on over 200,000 characters of revision suggestions from scholars, enterprises, central government bodies and relevant local authorities.

Her involvement also included chairing and participating in more than 50 research meetings and symposiums on the draft, she said.

The version submitted for the third reading features more than 420 substantive changes compared with the initial one, she said. The changes are closely aligned with the nation's latest strategic priorities, Lyu added.

After President Xi Jinping announced China's updated Nationally Determined Contributions to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in September, the NPC's code drafting team conducted a comprehensive revision of the provisions on green and low-carbon development.

China, for instance, will reduce economy-wide net greenhouse gas emissions by 7 percent to 10 percent from peak levels, and basically establish a climate adaptive society by 2035.

The draft ecological and environmental code submitted for the third reading stipulates that the national government should develop and implement climate change adaptation strategies, and take effective measures to mitigate the adverse impacts and risks of climate change to establish a climate adaptive society.

Lyu said institutions and systems that were not clearly defined by previous laws, but have matured through practical exploration, have been refined and summarized in the draft. She cited China's unique ecological and environmental damage compensation system as one such example.

Lyu also highlighted substantial revisions made to enhance systemic integration and coordination. These revisions have made the draft code more sophisticated in both form and structure, and its content more comprehensive, she said.

Resolving conflicts

The draft has proactively responded to major topics of public concern, Lyu said, citing human-wildlife conflict as a prime example.

"To address the issue of human-wildlife conflict arising from wild animals encroaching on the residences of communities adjacent to protected areas, the draft code specifically introduced relevant provisions," she said.

In areas severely affected by wildlife damage, local people's governments at or above the county level are to organize relevant bodies and individuals to implement measures for the prevention, control, and mitigation of damage, the draft specifies.

People who suffer injuries or property losses, such as crop damage while protecting endangered species or other protected wildlife are legally entitled to compensation.

In emergency situations, where personal safety is threatened by wildlife, legal liability is not incurred for measures taken that result in harm to the wildlife, the draft says.

Hou Jiaru, director of the Environmental and Resources Law Institute at China University of Political Science and Law, welcomed these provisions. He said they are designed to address the growing "extreme dilemma" of whether to protect humans or animals in conflicts.

"As the ecological environment improves, the wildlife populations have expanded," Hou said.

"This is a positive development, but it also brings new challenges. Incidents of wildlife destroying crops, competing for pasture, and venturing into cities to injure people are becoming increasingly common."

He highlighted the provision that exempts legal liability in emergency situations, saying its core principle is that human life remains the priority. This offers legal safeguards for individuals facing immediate peril, Hou said.

However, the provision only applies to split-second acts of self-defense and is by no means an encouragement to harm wildlife. The goal is to resolve the dilemma of choosing between protecting humans or animals.

"This signals that China's approach to wildlife conservation is entering a more mature and pragmatic phase," Hou said.

Meanwhile, Wang Jin, a professor at Peking University Law School, said he hoped the ecological and environmental code will help resolve the long-standing issue of fragmented water governance. This is often described as "nine dragons managing water", where multiple government bodies have overlapping responsibilities.

The code has the potential to address the issue, as the draft stipulates in its general provisions that the national government should make concerted efforts to improve water resources, the water environment, and aquatic ecosystems to strengthen overall water conservation.

The clause was included in the draft when it was submitted to the NPC Standing Committee for the second reading.

As the guiding framework for all other sections, the general provisions establish the fundamental legal principles and systems for ecological and environmental conservation, he stressed.

Wang said the prominent placement of the integrated water management clause in the ecological and environmental code draft clearly demonstrates the great importance placed on resolving the fragmentation issue and promoting a holistic approach to water governance.

Waste recycling promoted

The code is also expected to play a significant role in promoting waste recycling, said Zhang Zhongmin, vice-president of Hubei University of Economics.

When the draft was submitted for a second reading, it included strengthened measures for waste recycling across various sectors, he said.

Among the notable adjustments is the extended producer responsibility for automotive traction batteries — rechargeable energy storage units for electric vehicles — to cover all types of traction batteries, and promotion of the wider application of recycled materials. Manufacturers are required to take responsibility for the end-of-life management of their products.

Producers of electrical and electronic equipment, automobiles, lead-acid batteries and traction batteries must establish a waste-product recovery system that aligns with their sales volume — either by building their own or through entrusting the work to third parties.

Zhang said traction batteries are not only used in electric vehicles, but also in energy storage, electric vessels, and construction machinery. The adjustment to the draft actively responds to the practical demands of traction-battery recycling as the range of their applications expands, he said.

The government should encourage the promotion and use of recycled materials by establishing a certification system for recycled materials, the draft stipulates. It should also support automobile, electrical and electronic equipment manufacturers to increase the proportion of recycled materials they use in their products.

Zhang said these revisions will help standardize the use of recycled materials, enhance the international competitiveness of Chinese green products, and dismantle green barriers in global trade through certification and mutual recognition mechanisms.

Xie Xinyuan, a policy researcher with NGO Tianjin Lingmeng Public Welfare Development Center, welcomed the provisions on disposable items and degradable plastics in the draft code.

The draft code replaces "disposable consumer goods" and "disposable office supplies" with the broader term "disposable items", thereby expanding the scope of both restrictions and advocacy, he said.

When referring to degradable alternatives, the draft code adds the qualifier "harmless". This reflects a more cautious approach toward the potential environmental and health risks posed by such products, he said.

"The degradation of so-called degradable products is often contingent on strict conditions. They may, for example, decompose only in industrial composting settings, remaining largely intact in typical natural environments," he said, indicating the potential environmental hazards of some so-called degradable products.

Legal framework

The draft code has a dedicated section on low-carbon development. It establishes China's first legal framework for climate action that sets out the principles and basis for future climate laws in the country.

Dimitri de Boer, director for China at ClientEarth, an environmental law organization, said this was the most impressive aspect of the draft code. It will provide a strong legal basis for a smooth climate transition and greatly promote climate mitigation and adaptation in China, he said.

"The code is very high-level, and it provides overall principles and guidance for all environmental and climate efforts. It also sends a really important signal," he said.

The draft code has five sections — general provisions, pollution control, ecological conservation, green and low-carbon development, and legal liability and supplementary articles.

It stipulates, for example, the national government should establish a mechanism to control total carbon emissions and emission intensity (emissions per unit of GDP), and reasonably determine carbon emission quotas based on the country's goals to reach peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060.

Currently, China adopts a mechanism that targets total energy consumption and energy consumption intensity.

De Boer said the code will serve as the fundamental law of China's environmental legal framework, and establish a unified and comprehensive legal basis for environmental governance.

"It's not merely a technical consolidation of laws — it represents a shift toward long-term, system-based ecological governance, with implications for domestic accountability, economic transition, and China's global environmental leadership," he stated.

He also highlighted the international significance of the ecological and environmental code.

Many countries regulate environmental issues through fragmented laws and regulations. China's comprehensive ecological and environmental code can demonstrate how to integrate pollution control, biodiversity protection, climate governance, and liability mechanisms into a single, coherent legal architecture.

For developing countries in particular, codification may offer a template to improve legal clarity and enforcement consistency, he said.

"As one of the world's largest economies with diverse ecological regions, China's efforts to codify environmental governance will provide insights for other countries on how to achieve full-scale green and high-quality economic development," he said.

Xinhua contributed to this story.