On 17 June 2025, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued the Opinions on Comprehensively Promoting the Protection and Governance of Rivers and Lakes. This is China’s first top-level policy providing a unified framework for river and lake governance. It sets out six key areas and introduces three core subsystems for modern flood-disaster prevention. By 2035, the policy aims to strengthen flood control, safeguard drinking-water sources and restore aquatic ecosystems, while promoting water-related culture and improving governance mechanisms. It builds on the Yangtze (2021) and Yellow River (2022) Protection Laws.

The Ministry of Ecology and Environment issued the Opinions on Strengthening the Environmental Impact Assessment of Construction Projects Involving New Pollutants in Key Industries on April 10, which requires strengthening the environmental impact assessment of construction projects involving new pollutants in six key industries. Industries include petrochemicals, coatings, textile printing and dyeing, rubber, pesticides, and pharmaceuticals.

China is taking a historic step toward strengthening environmental governance with its first-ever Ecological Environment Code (Draft), submitted for a first reading in April 2025. Comprising 1,188 articles, the draft code consolidates over 30 existing environmental laws and introduces groundbreaking provisions ranging from the protection of ecological rights to the regulation of emerging pollutants and climate-related measures. For the first time, green and low-carbon development is given a dedicated legal framework. Open for public comment, the draft marks a major move toward a more unified, systematic, and future-oriented approach to environmental protection. Once adopted, it will become China’s second statutory code.