Editor's note: For decades, while nations have penned ambitious climate pledges and green policy agendas, few have dared to enshrine their ecological commitments into the enduring framework of a legal code.

China has just shattered that mold. With its fresh Ecological and Environmental Code in place, the world's second-largest economy represents a profound rethinking of how law can guide a country toward the vision of a "Beautiful China."

To better understand how this landmark legislation took shape and what it could mean for China's future, CGTN's Feng Yilei spoke with Lyu Zhongmei. She is vice chair of the National People's Congress Environment and Resources Protection Committee, a veteran environmental jurist, and a leading figure who has spent more than a decade guiding the concept from an academic proposal into an emerging legal reality.

CGTN reporter: This is only the second codified law in China's legal history. What does its adoption mean for China's ecological governance and for the daily lives of ordinary people?

Lyu Zhongmei: 

The compilation of this code actually aims to codify through legislative means what our Constitution stipulates: the national goal of building a beautiful China.

I believe this sends a very strong signal to the world. In the past, many achievements of our ecological civilization reform were reflected through policies. This time, we are consolidating successful reform experiences through legal codification, the most authoritative and stable form.

This demonstrates that we are not fighting just a single battle; rather, the construction of ecological civilization is our national goal, and for the sustainable development of the Chinese nation, we will persistently and routinely employ the strictest rule of law and most rigorous measures to protect our living environment.

The formulation of the code upholds the people-centered stance in the rule of law. It takes safeguarding public health and ecological and environmental rights and interests as its legislative purpose. It means the state has the responsibility and obligation to provide ecological environment products for our people. Furthermore, when our rights are violated, we can also file lawsuits and enjoy the right to seek remedies. We protect not only the rights and interests of our contemporary people but also of future generations.

For example, in the General Provisions, in the Pollution Prevention and Control section, health risks are treated as important elements for assessment and governance regarding soil pollution and new pollutants. In the chapters related to climate change response, the potential public health impacts of climate change are specifically included in the assessment scope.

Regarding the global challenge of human-wildlife conflicts, on one hand, we propose the strictest standards for national park and nature reserve construction to maintain the authenticity and integrity of ecosystems; on the other hand, we have designed relief systems such as resident livelihood guarantees, state subsidies, and insurance so that residents who make sacrifices for ecological protection will not suffer property losses. This fully demonstrates that the most pressing concerns of ordinary people serve as the legislative value orientation.

CGTN reporter: Very few of the world's largest economies have a dedicated environmental code. What makes China's code distinctive?

Lyu Zhongmei:

Among the countries worldwide, there are probably no more than 20 that have truly compiled comprehensive environmental codes. China's Ecological and Environmental Code is the first in the world to incorporate all areas related to ecological and environmental protection, as well as the relationship between development and protection, into a single legal text – this is absolutely unprecedented.

Within this code, we have included distinctly Chinese solutions on how to integrate ecological environment protection with living environment protection and how to reconcile the relationship between development and protection within a single legal framework.

German professor Gerd Winter has been closely following our ecological and environmental code compilation and has visited China multiple times to exchange ideas with our scholars. He recently published a lengthy paper commenting on our ecological and environmental code compilation.

First, the ambitious undertaking of comprehensively compiling 38 laws into a single legal text represents an all-encompassing compilation effort. Second, he particularly noted that we have established green and low-carbon development as an independent section, enabling the relationship between development and protection to be well addressed within one legal text. These two aspects are what he especially commended.

CGTN reporter: How does this code ensure that development never comes at the environment's expense?

Lyu Zhongmei:

China has cultural advantages. This code embodies such philosophies, incorporating our vision of harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature and our belief that we need both development and protection – how to develop within protection and protect within development.

I believe this not only provides a new possibility for other developing countries but also addresses post-industrial environmental challenges such as climate change and global emerging pollutants. We have made regulations and provisions in the code regarding these issues, offering developed countries a new solution for governance when facing dual pressures simultaneously.

China also has a strong governance system – this is our political advantage. We fully leverage the institutional strength of shared responsibility of the Communist Party of China and government.

For instance, the ecological and environmental code explicitly stipulates that local Party committees and governments must take overall responsibility for the quality of the ecological environment and the development of ecological civilization in their jurisdictions. The code also establishes stricter assessment and accountability mechanisms and strengthens environmental protection inspections.

Anyone who pursues development at the cost of the environment must be held accountable in accordance with the law. We have explicitly written shared responsibility of Party and government and lifetime accountability into the code to curb local governments' one-sided pursuit of GDP growth and guide them to firmly follow the path of modernization featuring harmony between humanity and nature.

We have raised environmental quality standards through many institutional designs. For example, we have just issued new air quality standards with tightened limits for conventional pollutants such as PM2.5, PM10 and nitrogen oxides. Our current standards for pollutants like PM2.5 and PM10 are already aligning with World Health Organization (WHO) Air Quality Guidelines.

We have also implemented a series of measures to force transformations in energy structure, economic structure and transportation structure – fundamentally addressing our ecological and environmental problems through comprehensive green development transformation to achieve our goals.

CGTN reporter: As rising green trade barriers increasingly affect exports and jobs, can this code serve as a legal tool to safeguard China's interests?

Lyu Zhongmei:

On one hand, by raising standards for green and low-carbon development transformation and adopting market-based measures – such as developing circular economy, green energy transition, establishing the world's largest mandatory emissions trading market and voluntary carbon reduction market – we build our own green development system, align with international requirements such as the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, and enhance the competitiveness of Chinese products. Our carbon footprint accounting, carbon sink methodologies and other initiatives are all contributing to the world.

On the other hand, the ecological and environmental code establishes extraterritorial application clauses and designs our own environmental protection standard system. Any foreign enterprise coming to China must comply with Chinese environmental laws, and Chinese enterprises going abroad must carry our standards with them.

The code injects certainty into the uncertainties of international ecological and environmental governance – transforming China's dual carbon commitment into executable, quantifiable, and assessable legal rules, exporting standards and governance solutions to the world while providing a legal shield for protecting our legitimate rights and interests. We have our red lines.