China's top court gears up to enforce new Ecological and Environmental Code with focus on pollution, green development, and carbon markets

China's Supreme People's Court is overhauling judicial interpretations to align with the new Ecological and Environmental Code, which takes effect on August 15. The court has organized training for judges nationwide and is drafting new guidelines to strengthen pollution control, ecological protection, and green, low-carbon development. In 2025 alone, Chinese courts concluded 229,000 first-instance environmental cases and 61,000 cases supporting industrial upgrading, energy transition, and carbon market growth. The code also introduces integrated protection of natural and cultural sites, a new judicial priority. Courts have handled over 19,000 cultural heritage cases since 2015 and set up more than 2,500 specialized environment and culture protection organizations by end of 2025. The top court has released over 350 landmark environmental cases for public reference, aiming to raise legal awareness and enforcement consistency across the country.