Legal code and action drive global environmental governance

Editor's note: Wang Mou, a special commentator for CGTN, is a director at the Research Institute for Eco-civilization under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

Ecological prosperity means the prosperity of civilization. The Chinese nation has always respected and loved nature, and the over 5,000-year-long Chinese civilization has nurtured a rich ecological culture. In March 2026, a draft environmental code was submitted to the National People's Congress for deliberation during the Two Sessions. As a code named after "ecological environment," it transforms major concepts such as "harmonious coexistence between humans and nature" and "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" into rigid legal norms.  

It is not only a systematic reshaping and institutional innovation of the domestic ecological and environmental governance system, but also a solemn action for China to respond to the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, implement the goals of the Paris Agreement and contribute to global ecological civilization construction. It demonstrates to the world China's firm determination, strong confidence and pragmatic commitment to advancing the building of a Beautiful China and building a community of all life on Earth.

At the domestic governance level, the code promotes a profound transformation of ecological and environmental governance from fragmentation to systematization, from siloed approaches to coordination and from end-of-pipe treatment to source prevention and control, marking an innovative milestone in modernizing governance capacity.  

For a long time, China's ecological and environmental legal system has consisted of more than 30 separate laws, over 100 administrative regulations and more than 1,000 local regulations. These separate rules and regulations are numerous, poorly connected and overlap in provisions, leading to problems such as weak coordination and insufficient law enforcement, which make it difficult to achieve systematic governance in the construction of ecological civilization in the new era.  

Based on China's ecological governance practices, the draft code integrates existing regulations. It constructs a scientific system of "five in one" – general provisions, pollution prevention and control, ecological protection, green and low-carbon development and legal liabilities. It establishes the principle of integrated protection and systematic governance of mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, grasslands, deserts and sand.

Together, it unifies regulatory standards, clarifies the boundaries of rights and responsibilities and strengthens coordinated law enforcement, fundamentally breaking through the long-standing bottlenecks in ecological and environmental governance.

Focusing on people's livelihood concerns and the urgent needs of the masses for a sound ecological environment, the code implements whole-chain control over air, water, soil, noise, new pollutants and other factors, incorporates emerging issues such as light pollution and electromagnetic radiation pollution into the regulatory scope, enshrines the public's ecological and environmental rights and interests in the legislative purpose, and improves systems such as environmental public interest litigation and damage compensation, ensuring a better life and giving stronger voice to environmental demands.  

As the first code to independently dedicate a chapter to green and low-carbon development, it elevates carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, energy transition, the circular economy and climate change response to the legal sphere. It also guides the green transformation of economic development, industrial structure upgrading, energy structure optimization and production and lifestyle through the rule of law, achieving a positive interaction between high-quality development and high-level protection, and laying a solid institutional foundation for the construction of a Beautiful China.

At the global governance level, the code contributes Chinese plans and wisdom to the world, with distinct leadership value and exemplary significance. Currently, global ecological and environmental challenges are increasingly severe, with issues such as climate change, environmental pollution and biodiversity loss threatening the development of human society. It is urgent to build a fair, reasonable, collaborative and efficient global environmental governance system.  

While promoting the implementation of China's ecological civilization construction, the code fully aligns with the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, providing a clear legalized path for key goals such as clean drinking water, climate action, terrestrial ecosystems, sustainable cities and responsible consumption and production, and advancing the implementation of the global agenda through major-country actions.  

The code systematically implements the requirements of the Paris Agreement, incorporates climate change mitigation and adaptation, nationally determined contributions, carbon market mechanisms and green technology innovation into the legal framework, and delivers China's carbon neutrality commitments through stable and predictable institutional arrangements, injecting certainty into the achievement of global climate governance goals.  

More importantly, the code has blazed a modern path of coordinated development and protection, breaking the traditional model of "pollution first, treatment later" and providing a referenceable, implementable and sustainable legal model for developing countries.  

At the same time, the code clearly proposes to deepen international cooperation and build a global environmental governance system, transforming China's practical experience in green technology, ecological engineering, renewable energy equipment and other fields into international public goods, helping developing countries enhance their ecological and environmental governance capacity and promoting the building of a community with a shared future for humanity and a community of all life on Earth through concrete actions.

The code marks China's ecological and environmental rule of law entering into a new stage of systematization, scientization and modernization. It is an important symbol of China's participation in and leading global ecological civilization construction.  

It protects lucid waters and lush mountains through the rule of law, regulates development behaviors through systems, and fulfills international commitments through actions. It not only effectively safeguards ecological well-being and ensures that the achievements of building a Beautiful China benefit everyone fairly, but also has spillover effects that provide a Chinese path and experience for global environmental governance and the sustainable development of human society.

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