Provide legislative support to accelerate the comprehensive green transformation
2024-10-16
Chinese path to modernization is a kind of modernization in which people and nature coexist in harmony. To achieve high-quality development, we must promote green and low-carbon economic and social development. Recently, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the "Opinions on Accelerating the Comprehensive Green Transformation of Economic and Social Development", which made systematic arrangements for accelerating the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development and proposed to "strengthen the guarantee of the rule of law". In this issue of the "Voice" edition, experts in the field of environmental and resource law are invited to provide suggestions from the perspectives of legislation, law enforcement, and judiciary, and to discuss with readers. Recently, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the "Opinions on Accelerating the Comprehensive Green Transformation of Economic and Social Development" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions"), proposing to promote green transformation in all aspects, fields, and regions, and put forward clear requirements for relevant legislative work. Promoting green and low-carbon economic and social development is a key link in achieving high-quality development, a fundamental strategy for solving China's resource and environmental problems, and an inherent requirement for building a modern harmonious coexistence between humans and nature. Our country has long established resource conservation and environmental protection as basic national policies. Promoting comprehensive green transformation involves all aspects of economic and social development, and must be planned and systematically deployed to better play the role of the rule of law in consolidating the foundation, stabilizing expectations, and benefiting the long-term. Good laws are the prerequisite for good governance. At present, there are more than 30 relevant laws, over 100 administrative regulations, and over 1000 local regulations in the field of ecological environment in China, forming a comprehensive, practical, and strict legal system for ecological and environmental protection. Under the strong protection of a series of laws and regulations, China is firmly committed to the path of civilized development characterized by production development, prosperous living, and good ecology, and has taken significant steps towards promoting green and low-carbon development. In the face of new situations and tasks, it is necessary to keep pace with the times and strengthen the guarantee of the rule of law, accelerate the improvement of relevant laws and regulations for green transformation, in order to better adapt to the new needs of the legal system for comprehensive green transformation, and ensure that all work has laws and regulations to follow. The Opinion proposes a series of legislative tasks to accelerate the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development, which points out the direction for the legal construction of environmental resources and energy in China in the future period. The Opinion clearly proposes to accelerate the formulation of the Ecological Environment Code. Compiling an ecological environment code is a daunting legislative task and systematic project. It involves systematically integrating, compiling, and elevating the current ecological environment legal system norms through codification, which helps to further enhance the systematicity, integrity, synergy, and timeliness of the ecological environment legal system. At present, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress is actively promoting the compilation of the ecological environment code, striving to submit it for review within the year. This means that China's environmental protection legal system will be more adapted to the actual needs of ecological civilization construction, better assist in the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development, and be more conducive to building a beautiful China. Energy is the fundamental support for economic and social development, and energy security and safety are closely related to the national economy and people's livelihood. It is an important aspect of the country that cannot be ignored. China is a major energy consuming country, and its energy system is highly dependent on fossil fuels such as coal. There is significant pressure to transition its production and living systems towards green and low-carbon development, and promoting the construction of a clean, low-carbon, safe, and efficient energy system relies on legal protection. Energy law is the backbone project for realizing the legalization of energy. After years of efforts, China has successively introduced several separate laws in the field of energy, such as the Electricity Law and the Coal Law. However, there are still problems such as the lack of basic energy laws, conflicts between different separate laws and policy documents, and inadequate supervision of the energy market. To this end, deputies to the National People's Congress have repeatedly put forward proposals to specially formulate the energy law, so as to better play the core role of the law in adjusting the interests of all parties in the energy field and coordinating China's energy work. The Opinion also specifically points out the need to accelerate the formulation of energy laws. At present, the Energy Law has been included in the legislative plan of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress in 2024. In addition, the Opinion also explicitly requires accelerating the revision of laws and regulations such as the Energy Conservation Law, Electricity Law, Coal Law, Renewable Energy Law, and Circular Economy Promotion Law. The formulation and improvement of the above laws and regulations will further promote the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development. In 2020, China made a solemn commitment to the international community to strive for carbon peak before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060. Under the guidance of the "dual carbon" target, strategic emerging industries have increasingly become the green engine for China's high-quality development and have made important contributions to global climate governance. At the same time, we must fully recognize the challenges currently faced by our country and use a more comprehensive legal system as a guarantee for green development. The Opinion requires the study and formulation of special laws to address climate change and achieve carbon peak and carbon neutrality. To this end, legislation should be passed to clarify the basic principles, management system, strategic planning, mitigation and adaptation measures, supervision and management, and legal responsibilities for achieving the "dual carbon" goal. Key systems such as carbon emission standards, carbon emission accounting, carbon emission monitoring, and carbon emission trading should be included to provide a clear legal basis for effectively addressing climate change and achieving the "dual carbon" goal. The comprehensive green transformation is a broad and profound economic and social change. The deepening of reform and the development of the cause inevitably require the guarantee of the rule of law. I believe that the continuous development and improvement of China's environmental, resource, and energy legal system will play a greater role in promoting the formation of spatial layout, industrial structure, production methods, and lifestyles that are conducive to resource conservation and environmental protection, and safeguarding green, low-carbon, and high-quality development.
Edit：Sun Jia Bin Responsible editor：Li Yi
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