China's top court issues guideline on environmental protection

China's top court issued a guideline on Friday aiming to help the country achieve its climate targets of peaking carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and realizing carbon neutrality before 2060 through legal services.

The 24-article guideline made by the Supreme People's Court highlights the significance of putting the environmental restoration first, clarifying that judges should balance the relationship between development and emission reduction of enterprises in case handling.

It stipulates that courts nationwide need to guide enterprises to save energy and reduce carbon emissions through technological transformation in dealing with relevant cases, urging them to promote the green and sustainable growth.

It also requires courts to efficiently solve desert-related disputes and lawsuits involving large-scale wind power and photovoltaic power generation bases.

Considering the number of carbon trading cases is rising, it states that courts should focus more on keeping the carbon trading market in mind.

Liu Zhumei, the chief judge of the top court's Adjudication Tribunal for Environment and Resources, told media that the guideline is a key step to implement the environmental protection requirement written into the report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

"The guideline is also the first judicial document made by the top court to regulate case handling on the carbon peak and carbon," she added.

On Friday, the top court also disclosed 11 new types of carbon-related cases, including those on environmental infringement due to greenhouse gas emissions and damaging to computer information system for environmental monitoring.