{"id":66073,"date":"2020-07-08T14:03:46","date_gmt":"2020-07-08T14:03:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chinadialogue.net\/?p=66073"},"modified":"2021-02-15T10:16:32","modified_gmt":"2021-02-15T10:16:32","slug":"is-the-environment-still-a-priority-for-china-in-the-post-pandemic-era","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/nature\/is-the-environment-still-a-priority-for-china-in-the-post-pandemic-era\/","title":{"rendered":"Is the environment still a priority for China in the post-pandemic era?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

China faces a turbulent economic and geopolitical landscape, with most of the world still battling Covid-19, relations with the US at a new low, and the global economy hard hit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So is the environment still a priority in its political and economic agenda?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Immediately after the lockdown was partially lifted in March, China\u2019s president, Xi Jinping, visited Anji County<\/a> in east China\u2019s Zhejiang province and Niubeiliang National Nature Reserve<\/a> in Shanxi, two important locations where his idea of ecological conservation developed. The visits sent strong signals that the environment still mattered for the leadership. Premier Li Keqiang\u2019s work report for 2020<\/a>, delivered to the National People\u2019s Congress at its post-lockdown Twin Sessions convention<\/a> in late May, also highlighted environmental protection. Moreover, Huang Runqiu, the newly appointed minister of ecology and environment, stressed that ecological protection and green development shall remain priorities and acknowledged that work is still needed to achieve China\u2019s 2020 environmental goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond visits and statements from top leaders, China has been rolling out a series of policy and legislative items since March with far-reaching implications for its environmental governance system. We take stock of four major developments in this area to demonstrate how they will bear out the leadership\u2019s vision for ecological civilisation in the post-pandemic era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Modernising\u2019 environmental governance<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In March, the Party Central Committee and the State Council issued the \u201cGuiding Opinions on Building a Modern Environmental Governance System\u201d, which specifies the roles of various stakeholders in environmental protection, and reaffirms key priorities, such as rule of law, multi-stakeholder governance, transparency and market mechanisms. The document<\/a> includes the objective of setting up a green governance system that is \u201cclear in its direction\u201d, \u201cscientific in decision making\u201d, \u201cstrong in enforcement\u201d, \u201ceffective in its incentives\u201d and \u201cwide in participation\u201d by the year 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While most of the systems have been announced in previous documents, the Guiding Opinions document goes further by providing a convenient to-do list for environmental governance reform in the 14th<\/sup> Five Year Plan<\/a> period (2021-2025).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Importantly, the roles of the Party Central Committee and National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) are specified, as well as the role of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE). This matters, because issues like climate change must be addressed by integrating climate considerations into broader economic policies, such as industrial restructuring, power generation and transportation. The MEE recently established a \u201cgeneral department\u201d tasked with this type of integration, among other things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Multi-stakeholder participation will be the key feature of the modern environmental governance system. The Guiding Opinions document stresses the importance of businesses and civil society participating, and clarifies their responsibilities as well as government\u2019s. Moreover, it explicitly mentions strengthening judicial support for environmental protection and encouraging prosecutors in bringing environmental public interest lawsuits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A \u2018green\u2019 Civil Code<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Civil Code, passed at the latest Twin Sessions<\/a> on 28 May, is the only Chinese legislation officially called a \u201ccode\u201d. It contains ambitious goals for state governance, including 18 \u201cgreen articles\u201d dedicated to safeguarding the environmental rule of law, with many more newly added provisions aimed at promoting environmental protection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be more specific, the Civil Code makes sustainable utilisation of resources and environmental protection a prerequisite for exercising land-use rights. It has a dedicated chapter on environmental pollution and damage liabilities, with some major revisions to environmental tort liability:  <\/p>\n\n\n\n