China establishes world's largest network of specialized eco-environmental judicial institutions, SPC says on World Environment Day

An aerial drone photo taken on June 4, 2025, shows volunteers collecting waste along a riverbank in Zunhua City, north China's Hebei Province. (Photo/Xinhua)

China has established the world's largest network of specialized ecological environmental judicial institutions as of 2024, China's top court said on Thursday, on the occasion of the 54th World Environment Day.

World Environment Day falls on June 5 under the theme "Beat Plastic Pollution," and China's theme this year is called building a beautiful China starts with me.

In 2024, the Supreme People's Court (SPC) formed a comprehensive system centered on specialized organizations, diversified mechanisms, systematic rules, professional teams, and scientific theories, thereby creating the world's largest network of specialized ecological and environmental judicial institutions, according to a statement the SPC sent to the Global Times on Thursday.

Relying on laws including China's Civil Code and the Yangtze River Protection Law, a judicial rule framework covering areas like watershed governance and biodiversity conservation was also developed, according to the statement.

The SPC also released an environmental adjudication report on Thursday, with over 245,000 first-instance environmental and resource cases accepted by courts nationwide in 2024, and more than 219,000 concluded. These figures represent the third consecutive year of decline for both acceptance and conclusion volumes, the country's top court said.

Aside from the SPC, public security authorities and the Supreme People's Procuratorate are also intensifying efforts to combat environmental crimes.

From January to April this year, over 6,900 environmental cases were investigated nationwide by public security agencies, resulting in the arrest of 13,000 suspects, according to the China National Radio (CNR) on Thursday.

Procuratorial organs nationwide handled 74,000 public interest litigation cases in ecology and environmental protection from January 2024 to May 2025, per China Central Television (CCTV). Over 6,700 public interest lawsuits were filed, accounting for about 57 percent of all such cases, effectively addressing prominent environmental issues.

Over the past decade, the progress made in environmental protection can be attributed in large part to the continuous strengthening of law enforcement in China, which has reversed the previous situation of lax enforcement where the cost of violating laws was severely underestimated, Ma Jun, director of the Beijing-based Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, told the Global Times on Thursday.

In addition to the achievements in combating environmental violations and crimes, China has also made progress in low-carbon transition.

When asked to comment on China's pace setting position in global green transition, notable achievements in renewable energy exploration and other fields, and contributions to energy transition programs in other developing countries, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lin Jian stated that China has witnessed the fastest energy intensity reduction and most visible improvement in air quality.

China accounts for a quarter of the world's newly-added area of afforestation, and has built the world's largest and fastest-growing renewable energy system and the largest and most complete new energy industrial chain, Lin said.

China is also an important contributor to the global green transition. China has green energy cooperation projects with over 100 countries and regions, and actively supports the free flow of high-quality green technologies and products.

China provides over 80 percent of the photovoltaic components and 70 percent of wind power equipment in the world and has enabled the global average cost of the construction of wind and PV power plants to drop by more than 60 percent and 80 percent respectively. As a result, countries in the world, especially the developing countries, have affordable and better access to clean energy, Lin said.

On Thursday morning, China's Ministry of Ecology and Environment released a report on the state of China's ecology and environment in 2024, which features the consumption of clean energy and the specific details of the carbon market.

Clean energy consumption including natural gas, hydropower, nuclear power, wind power, and solar power accounted for 28.6 percent of the total, an increase of 2.2 percentage points from 2023.

During the Environment Day themed activities held across the country, Wuhan, Central China's Hubei Province, adopted a carbon-neutral approach by retiring national carbon emission allowances through the China Emissions Exchange in Wuhan to offset emissions, the People's Daily Online reported.

The 79 tons of carbon emissions generated by the event were offset through donated emission allowances and certified by the exchange to achieve carbon neutrality, the report said.