China issues directives on deepening the reform of the environmental compensation system

On January 16, 2025, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China, together with 11 central administrative departments, including the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Natural Resources, issued the “Directives on Deepening the Reform of the Environmental Damage Compensation System” (Directives 2025). The Directives will come into effect immediately, and the “Directives on Promoting the Reform of the Environmental Damage Compensation System” (Directives 2020) issued in 2020 will be repealed at the same time as the Directives 2025 comes into effect. The Directives 2025 issued this time has supplemented and updated some of the content based on the Directives 2020.