POLICY NEWS

China’s National People’s Congress, the country’s top legislature, approved the country’s first-ever Energy Law on 8 November 2024 at the 12th session of the Standing Committee Meeting. The Energy Law has taken effect on 1 January 2025. The release of this law, 18 years after the legislative process began, strengthens the legal framework governing China’s energy sector, supports energy security, and facilitates the country’s energy transition. As the foundation for the regulation of the energy sector, the Energy Law will also provide guidance and coordination for other sectoral legislation and policies.

On 1 December 2024, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) revised , requiring mine operators to capture coal mine gas with a methane concentration above 8%. This is the first revision after the standard has been released in 2008. China is currently the largest methane emitter globally, and while

With its “Action Plan on Early Warning for Climate Change Adaptation (2025-2027)”, China aims to build a joint technical platform for monitoring and forecasting climate and weather conditions, especially extreme weather events, as well as to strengthen regional cooperation mechanisms for early warning. In accordance with the UN’s “Early Warning for All” Initiative, the plan aims to enhance sharing of knowledge and tools for climate-related risk assessment in developing countries. It proposes the installation of three geostationary satellites to monitor climate events in Africa, Asia and Oceania, training of staff to operate the monitoring stations, and sharing of best practices and policies.

The Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) published its “Annual Report on China’s Policies and Actions to Address Climate Change 2024” on 6 November 2024, just ahead of COP29. The report summarises the results of China’s actions since 2023 and gives an overview of new policies and requirements to address

Two new policies regarding carbon emissions accounting have been released. The “Work Plan to Strengthen the Carbon Emissions Statistical Accounting System”, issued by the National Development and Reform Commission, outlines a two-phase approach to enhance the robustness and accuracy of carbon emissions data and to strengthen regulatory oversight and management of emissions across sectors and regions. The “Guidelines for the Formulation of Carbon Footprint Accounting Rules and Standards for Key Industrial Products”, issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology , aim to develop 200 carbon footprint accounting standards across key industries with high international trade volumes and significant emission reduction potential, such as steel, petrochemicals, new energy vehicles, and electronics.

To improve its national spatial planning system, China aims to harmonize the existing standards for spatial planning and to set up a national standards system. To this end, on 14 October 2024, the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Standardization Administration of China issued the “Three-Year Action Plan for the