The General Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued “The Opinions on Strengthening Ecological Environment Zoning and Control” (hereinafter referred to as the Opinions) on March 17th. It states that ecological environment zoning and control is an important measure to enhance the modernization of ecological environment governance, to ensure ecological functions and improve environmental quality.
On 14 March 2024, more than 40 Chinese and German experts, practitioners, and policy makers discussed technical approaches on how to make finance flows consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development. The high-level participants included financial regulators, commercial and development banks, rating agencies, academia, global initiatives and think tanks
On 7 March 2024, the State Council introduced the Action Programme aimed at driving Large-scale Equipment Renewal and Consumer Goods Replacement (hereinafter referred to as the Action Programme). By 2027, the program envisages a more than 25% increase in investment scale across various sectors including industry, agriculture, construction, transportation, education, culture, tourism, and medical care compared to 2023.
Mainstreaming gender practices and gender justice has become a key aspect of project implementation. The German government’s International Climate Initiative (IKI), has recognized gender justice as a central element to address the nexus between climate change, biodiversity loss, and gender. To further strengthen the implementation of gender mainstreaming within IKI Projects in China, speakers from the IKI Office, the research institute Chatham House, and GIZ’S IKI projects held an exchange on its relevance in a Gender Capacity Building Workshop on 29 February 2024.
The General Office of the State Council issued the Opinions on Accelerating the Establishment of a Waste Recycling System on 6 February 2024, which emphasize the importance of resource recycling and reuse. In this new policy, more quantitative targets are proposed, which provide clear indicators of policy implementation effectiveness. The new Opinions also expand the scope of waste categories to encompass agricultural waste and bulk solid waste, propose additional pathways for resource utilization and introduce the idea of ‘Extended Producer Responsibility’. In addition, the Opinions propose to integrate other countries’ relevant regulations and standards.
On 5 February 2024, the Ministry of Natural Resources issued the “Overall Plan for Enhancing the Digital Governance Capability of Natural Resources”. It supports the utilisation of new information technologies such as cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, etc. to build “one network, one map, and national spatial basic information platform” for natural resources.
The State Council of China has released the first legal framework for carbon market governance. The new regulatory framework provides clearer and stricter guidelines compared to previous rules, including penalties for falsification of emissions data and institutional support for a functional operation of China’s Emission Trading System (China ETS). The new regulations will take effect from May 1st, 2024.
In January, China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), in collaboration with the National Energy Administration (NEA), the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), and the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), released implementation guidelines to enhance the integration of New Energy Vehicles (NEVs) into the power grid. This policy aims to establish a bidirectional vehicle-to-grid (V2G) system based on charging and swapping facilities, utilising the flexibility of EV batteries as controllable loads or mobile storage.
Data released by China’s National Energy Administration (NEA) on January 26 showed that the country’s solar power generation capacity grew by a staggering 55.2% in 2023. The numbers highlight that over 216 GW of solar power have been added during 2023, which equals 14% of the world’s total installed solar PV capacity.
