China releases national plan for standards development 
China’s State Council on October 10 released a general plan for standards development across all economic sectors. It defines policies, targets and main challenges of standards development for the next 15 years. In the development of standards, the general plan aims to achieve by 2025 a shift from government-driven to government and market-driven development; a shift from industry and trade-centric standards use to use across all economic and social sectors; a shift from domestic to domestic and international development; and a shift from quantity and scale-focused to quality and effectiveness-focused development. Through standardization, China expects to enhance its overall competitiveness as well as promote high-quality economic and social development more effectively.
The general plan includes standardization plans for carbon emissions peaking, carbon neutrality, green production and green products, as outlined below.
Standards for carbon emission peaking and carbon neutrality
- Raise the energy consumption limits for key products and expand the coverage of these limit standards
- Develop standards for determining the amount of carbon emissions from each region, industry, product, etc. as soon as possible
- Formulate standards for greenhouse gases from key industries and key products as well as standards and labeling rules for low-carbon products
Standards for green production
- Develop standards for clean production
- Continuously develop standards for green design, green packaging and green supply chains of products
- Develop standards for recycling and the comprehensive utilization of industrial waste
- Develop standards for green products, including classification and evaluation standards
The full text of the general plan (in simplified Chinese) is available at
https://www.mee.gov.cn/zcwj/zyygwj/202110/t20211011_956009.shtml
