UDTR Global Rights of Nature Radar

Study on the Environmental Impact Assessment System under the Background of the Promulgation of China’s Ecological Environmental Code

Identification

Public canonical key

doi:10.4236/oalib.1114450

Authors

Jacob B. Grear · Wang Chen

Reported year

2025

Reported language

en

Source type

article

First detected

2026-11-09T19:13:16.511829+00:00

Last metadata observation

2026-11-09T19:13:16.511829+00:00

Last HTTP verification

Not checked

Institutions reported by the source

Chengdu University of Technology

Documentary abstract — original language

China's accelerated industrial growth has led to extensive environmental degradation, exposing the limitations of its previous regulatory frameworks.Although reforms such as the 2015 revision of the Environmental Protection Law introduced important changes, the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) system remained fragmented, inconsistently applied, and procedurally weak.The first draft Ecological and Environment Code (the Draft Code) marks a substantial legislative response, offering a unified and elevated statutory framework for environmental governance.This article examines the Code's contribution to redefining the EIA as a substantive legal mechanism, broadening its scope to include greenhouse gas emissions and lifecycle-based assessments, and formalizing procedural safeguards such as public consultations, technical oversight, and data transparency.Through doctrinal analysis and empirical review of regulatory performance across multiple jurisdictions, the study finds that EIA compliance improved by thirty-four percent, while irregularities in project approval processes declined by twenty-two percent between 2020 and 2024.These findings suggest that the Code strengthens the legal foundation of environmental regulation and aligns key elements of China's EIA practice with international standards.Nevertheless, the persistence of administrative discretion, uneven local enforcement, and limited judicial oversight underscores the gap between statutory ambition and institutional capacity.The article concludes that while the Ecological Environmental Code introduces significant innovations and reinforces the preventive and participatory dimensions of EIA, its long-term effectiveness will depend on the degree to which legal norms are operationalized through consistent administrative practice and broader civic engagement.

Identifiers

OPENALEX

W4416452254

DOI

10.4236/oalib.1114450

Documentary context

Documentary family

Scholarship

Source-reported types

article

Jurisdictions studied — explicit sources

CN

Entity mentions are not evidence of legal recognition. Jurisdiction studied is separate from author affiliation country.

Sources

OpenAlex · Record 1 · Record 2

• DOI · https://doi.org/10.4236/oalib.1114450
• OpenAlex · https://openalex.org/W4416452254

Documented bibliographic relations

Source-declared references and links; they do not establish legal support or UGLC qualification. Up to 20 outgoing references are displayed.

• openalex:w2046333519 · CITES
• openalex:w2049391316 · CITES
• openalex:w2317237827 · CITES
• openalex:w2765383043 · CITES
• openalex:w2769146406 · CITES
• openalex:w4291465366 · CITES
• openalex:w4292877303 · CITES
• openalex:w4388304270 · CITES
• openalex:w4390420057 · CITES
• openalex:w4404182757 · CITES
• openalex:w4408787472 · CITES
• openalex:w4409965972 · CITES

0 incoming references within the detected corpus

Documentary status

Relevance pending

Library

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