TITLE:
Study on the Environmental Impact Assessment System under the Background of the Promulgation of China’s Ecological Environmental Code
AUTHORS:
Jacob B. Grear, Wang Chen
KEYWORDS:
EIA, Environmental Protection Law, The Ecological Environmental Code, Law
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.12 No.11,
November
21,
2025
ABSTRACT: 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.