Environmental policy of the People's Republic of China is set by the National People's Congress and managed by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of the People's Republic of China. Under the ministry, the Department of Policies, Laws, and Regulations is in charge of establishing and strengthening basic laws and policies such as environmental laws, administrative policies and economic regulations. It is also responsible for the development of national environmental protection policy and macro strategy.
China's rapid economic expansion combined with the country's relaxed environmental oversight has caused a number of ecological problems. In response to public pressure, the Chinese government has undertaken a number of measures to curb pollution in China and improve the country's environmental situation. In and before the 2010s, the government's response was criticized as inadequate; encouraged by national policy that judged regions primarily by their economic development, corrupt and unwilling local authorities hampered enforcement. In April 2014, the government amended its environmental law to better fight pollution.
Since the 2010s, the government has given greater attention to environmental protection through policy actions such as the signing of the Paris climate accord, the 13th Five-Year Plan and the 2015 Environmental Protection Law reform. From 2006 to 2017, sulphur dioxide levels in China were reduced by 70 percent, and air pollution has decreased from 2013 to 2018. In 2017, investments in renewable energy amounted to US$279.8 billion worldwide, with China accounting for US$126.6 billion or 45% of the global investments.Frankfurt School – UNEP Collaborating Centre for Climate & Sustainable Energy Finance (2018). Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2018. Available online at: https://europa.eu/capacity4dev/unep/documents/global-trends-renewable-energy-investment-2018 China has become the world's largest investor, producer and consumer of renewable energy worldwide, manufacturing state-of-the-art solar panels, wind turbines, and hydroelectric energy facilities as well as becoming the world's largest producer of electric cars and buses. Its commitment to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions has been a major force in decreasing the global cost of wind and solar power, in turn helping the use of renewable energy to rise globally.
Policy jurisdiction China's State Environmental Protection Agency was raised to ministry level in 2008, and renamed the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP). Until 2018, it was responsible for implementing environmental policies, as well as the enforcement of environmental laws and regulations. The Ministry was tasked with protecting China's air, water, and land from pollution and contamination. Complementing its regulatory role, it funded and organized research and development.
Until 2018, China's pollutant trading programs and carbon emissions trading programs were under different policy jurisdictions. Pollutant trading programs were administered under the MEP and local Environmental Protection Bureaus until 2018. China's carbon emissions trading pilot programs were under the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) as well as local Development and Reform Councils.
In 2018, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) was established. A number of environmental policy functions were merged from other ministries into the MEE, including MEP functions, climate policy previously under the NDRC, and a number of environmental policy functions previously under the Ministry of Water Resources and the State Oceanic Administration. Pollutant and carbon emissions trading programs were also placed within the MEE's jurisdiction. The NDRC continues to have a role in the promotion of sustainable development goals.
As of 2020, China's pollution reduction targets have been set geographically. Based on goals set in China's operative Five-Year Plan, the central government sets yearly pollution reduction targets. These targets are then divided among provinces, which divide them further among cities and counties. Local government's primary environmental policy goals are to meet these reduction targets.
In China, draft laws are submitted to the public for consultation and comments. Environmental non-government organizations in China are active in the legislative process through this mechanism.
As of at least 2023, there is a trend towards increasing emphasis on environmental policy success in the evaluation of Communist Party cadre.
History China's first national environmental protection program, developed in the 1970s, focused on the idea of "complete utilization" as one of its key elements. Complete utilization was a waste-recycling and production efficiency principle that had developed in the 1950s as a response to material scarcity in the early PRC; its underlying philosophy was expressed in the slogan "turning waste into treasure and harm into benefit." Complete utilization was ideologically framed as a unique approach that only a socialist economy could develop. According to Zhou Enlai, "There is nothing that cannot be used. But capitalists are afraid of investing more and making less profit. We socialists must emphasize comprehensive utilization and waste utilization."
From 1949 to 1979, China's participation in international environmental policy bodies was slight. In 1972, Chinese representatives attended the first United Nations Conference on the Human Environment. The next year, the Environmental Protection Leadership Group was established. In 1983, the Chinese government announced that environmental protection would become a state policy. China began taking an active role in international environmental policy since the 1992 Rio Meeting on Environment and Development. It has been active in international environmental fora since.
Through the 1980s and early 1990s, China did not prioritize domestic environmental matters. In 1987, it enacted its first air pollution control law. State policy began changing further in the mid-1990s to become more protective of the environment, with the pace of change accelerating following the 1998 China floods. After investigating, government scientists attributed much of the cause for flooding to upstream deforestation that had occurred during logging booms in the previous two decades. State regulation of environmental issues became more active, with the State Environmental Projection Administration aggressively campaigning against deforestation, curbing excessive water use during irrigation, and emphasizing decarbonization of China's energy supplies.
Beginning in 1998, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began to shift from a focus on pure developmentalism towards eco-developmentalism. Responding both to scientific evidence on the environment and increasing public pressure, the CCP began to re-formulate its ideology to recognize that the developmentalist approach during reform and opening up was not sustainable. The CCP began to use the terminology of environmental culture (huanjing wenhua) and ecological civilization.
Two large reforestation programs, the Natural Forest Protection Program and the Returning Farmland to Forest program, were announced in late 1998. The programs were piloted in Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Gansu in 1999. They became widely implemented in 2000. The Natural Forest Protection Program called for major reductions in timber harvest, forest conservation, and instituted logging bans in most of Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, and Tibet. The program provided for alternative employment opportunities for former logging industry workers, including hiring them for reforestation work. The Returning Farmland to Forest program paid farmers to plant trees on less productive farmland and provided them with a yearly subsidy for lost income.
According to the Chinese government website, the Central Government invested more than 40 billion yuan between 1998 and 2001 on protection of vegetation, farm subsidies, and conversion of farm to forests."Protection of forests and control of desertification" . Retrieved April 2, 2008. Between 1999 and 2002, China converted 7.7 million hectares of farmland into forest.Li, Zhiyong. "A policy review on watershed protection and poverty alleviation by the Grain for Green Programme in China" . Retrieved April 2, 2008.
China became one of the 17 founding members of the Like-Minded Megadiverse Countries in 2002. The group was established to promote consultation and cooperation on the preservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.
China implemented its first renewable energy law over 2005-2006, expanding the market for renewable technology.
From 2001 to 2005, Chinese environmental authorities received more than 2.53 million letters and 430,000 visits by 597,000 petitioners seeking environmental redress. Meanwhile, the number of mass protests caused by concerns over environmental issues grew steadily from 2001 to 2007. The increased attention on environmental matters caused the Chinese government to display an increased level of concern towards environmental issues. For example, in his 2007 annual address Wen Jiabao, the Premier of China, made 48 references to "environment," "pollution," and "environmental protection", and stricter environmental regulations were subsequently implemented. Subsidies for some polluting industries were cancelled, while other polluting industries were shut down. However, many internal environmental targets were missed.
After the 2007 address, the influence of corruption was a hindrance to effective enforcement, as local authorities ignored orders and hampered the effectiveness of central decisions. In response, CCP general secretary Hu Jintao implemented the "Green G.D.P." project, where China's gross domestic product was adjusted to compensate for negative environmental effects; however, the program quickly lost official influence due to unfavorable data. The project's lead researcher claimed that provincial leaders "do not like to be lined up and told how they are not meeting the leadership's goals ... They found it difficult to accept this." The government attempted to hold national No Car Days where cars were banned from central roads, but the action was largely ignored.
In 2007, the central government initiated the National Specially Monitored Firms program, through which it directly monitored 3,115 water-polluting firms, 658 sewage treatment plants, and 3,592 air-polluting firms.
Domestic and international pressure prompted policy responses to reduce China's carbon emissions in advance of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Policy measures enacted by China's central government included closing more than 1,100 factories in the metropolitan area, banning trucks in Beijing, and restricting passenger vehicle usage to alternate days.
In 2008, the State Environmental Protection Administration was official replaced by the Ministry of Environmental Protection during the March National People's Congress sessions in Beijing.
In 2011, the State Council issued its "Decision on Accelerating the Regulation of Water Consumption." The document's introduction emphasizes the importance of water management given the growing impact of climate change. The Decision established a 670 billion cubic meters limit for annual water consumption, to be broken down in turn per industry, region, and products.
Also in 2011, China addressed sulfur dioxide pollution through the China IV gasoline standard, which limited sulfur in gasoline to 50 ppm.