Ministry of Ecology and Environment

The Ministry of Ecology and Environment is an executive-department of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, responsible for the ecological and environmental affairs. It is the 15th-ranked department in the State Council.

The Ministry is the nation's environmental protection department charged with the task of protecting China's air, water, and land from pollution and contamination. Directly under the State Council, it is empowered and required by law to implement environmental policies and enforce environmental laws and regulations. Complementing its regulatory role, it funds and organizes research and development.

History
In 1972, Chinese representatives attended the First United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, held in Sweden. The next year, 1973, saw the establishment of the Environmental Protection Leadership Group. In 1983, the Chinese government announced that environmental protection would become a state policy. In 1998, China went through a disastrous year of serious flooding, and the Chinese government upgraded the Leading Group to a ministry-level agency, which then became the State Environmental Protection Administration.

In March 2008, the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) was established, replacing the State Environmental Protection Administration.

During 2016–2017, the MEP temporarily shut down approximately 40% of all Chinese factories as part of an environmental protection campaign.

Pollutant trading programs were administered under the MEP and local Environmental Protection Bureaus until 2018.

In 2018, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) was established, replacing the MEP. A number of environmental policy functions were merged from other ministries into the MEE, including climate policy previously under the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and a number of environmental policy functions previously under the Ministry of Water Resources and the State Oceanic Administration. Pollutant and carbon emissions trading programs, which had previously been under the MEP's jurisdiction, were also placed within the MEE's control.

In 2019, the MEE established the BRI International Green Development Coalition as a joint project with the environmental agencies of twenty-five other countries.

Role
According to regulations concerning the Ministry, the MEE is responsible for protecting, regulating, and monitoring the environment, as well as enforcing environmental policies. It is responsible for pollution control, conserving the ecosystem, formulating environmental standards, conducting environmental impact assessments, environmental protection inspections, addressing climate change, supervising emissions reduction targets, supervising nuclear safety, as well as international environmental cooperation. It also has jurisdiction over China's nuclear safety agency.

MEE regulates water quality, ambient air quality, solid waste, soil, noise, radioactivity. In the area of R&D activities, MEE's predecessor MEP has funded a series of "Key Laboratories" in different parts of the country, including: Laboratory for Urban Air Particles Pollution Prevention and Control for Environmental Protection, Laboratory on Environment and Health, Laboratory on Industrial Ecology, Laboratory on Wetland Ecology and Vegetation Recovery, and Laboratory on Biosafety.

In addition, MEE also administers engineering and technical research centers related to environmental protection, including: Center for Non-ferrous Metal Industrial Pollution Control, Center for Clean Coal and Ecological Recovery of Mines, Center for Industrial Waste Water Pollution Control, Center for Industrial Flue Gas Control, Center for Hazardous Waste Treatment, and Center for Solid Waste Treatment and Disposal of Mines.

China is experiencing an increase in environmental complaints: In 2005, there were 51,000 disputes over environmental pollution, according to SEPA minister Zhou Shengxian. From 2001 to 2005, Chinese environmental authorities received more than 2.53 million letters and 430,000 visits by 597,000 petitioners seeking environmental redress.

Organization
There are 12 offices and departments under MEE, all at the si (司) level in the government ranking system. They carry out regulatory tasks in different areas and make sure that the agency is functioning accordingly. The MEE is the administrative home of the ministerial-level Special Envoy for Climate Change Affairs, China's top envoy on international climate change negotiations. The Special Envoy is supported by the MEE's Office of Climate Change Affairs, headed by a vice minister.

Regional centers
In 2006, SEPA opened five regional centers to help with local inspections and enforcement. Today, the five centers are direct affiliates of MEE: