How can ecological environment justice safeguard the construction of a beautiful China? How to weave legal guarantees for the comprehensive green transformation of the economy and society? What environmental and resource protection achievements have the people's courts submitted in the past five years? On the morning of February 9th, the Supreme People's Court held the seventh press conference on "Welcoming the Two Sessions, Upholding Justice, and Embarking on a New Journey", announcing the relevant situation of the people's courts escorting the construction of a beautiful China and serving the comprehensive green transformation during the 14th Five Year Plan period, and jointly releasing typical cases of legally serving and safeguarding the construction of the carbon market with the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, injecting judicial power into the green development of the first year of the 15th Five Year Plan. During the 14th Five Year Plan period, the people's courts, focusing on the overall work of the Party and the country, fully utilized their judicial functions and concluded 1.192 million first instance cases related to various environmental resources, reflecting the phased effectiveness of ecological governance and the dynamic adjustment of governance priorities. This represents a 4.3% decrease from the previous five-year period. ”In the past five years, the number of first instance criminal cases related to environmental resources has continued to decline, with 24000 new cases received in 2025, a decrease of 32.6% compared to 2021. "At the press conference, Wu Zhaoxiang, the presiding judge of the Supreme Court's Environmental Resources Trial Division, reported a set of data. According to the reported data, the number of first instance cases involving environmental pollution prevention and control, biodiversity conservation, ecological security, cultural relics and heritage protection, etc. in 2025 has decreased compared to 2021. With the deepening of the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development, the number of traditional environmental and resource cases has shown a downward trend, while new types of cases involving carbon trading, green finance, and prevention and control of new pollutants continue to emerge. This' one decrease and one increase 'phenomenon reflects the phased effectiveness of China's ecological environment protection work and the dynamic adjustment of governance priorities. ”When answering questions from reporters, Vice President Liu Xiaofei of the Supreme Court's Environmental Resources Trial Division stated. In the face of new situations and requirements, the people's courts have coordinated the promotion of high-quality development and high-level protection of the ecological environment by leveraging the green principles of the Civil Code to guide judicial decisions, timely issuing judicial interpretations and policy documents, demonstrating the leading role of cases, and improving the "three in one" trial mechanism for environmental resources. It is worth noting that the four typical cases of legally serving and guaranteeing the construction of carbon markets jointly released by the Supreme People's Court and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment are vivid practices of the people's courts in handling new types of cases. For example, in case one, a power generation company in Sichuan Province sued an environmental protection company in Beijing over a carbon emission trading contract dispute. It was clarified that the trading entities in the carbon market are not limited to key greenhouse gas emitting units, and contracts settled and delivered through the national carbon emission trading system should be legally recognized as legal and valid. This provides rules, guidance, and legal protection for key emitting units to purchase carbon emission quotas, helps promote the healthy and orderly development of the carbon market, and serves the green and low-carbon transformation. The people's courts regulate and maintain the trading order of the carbon market and serve the construction of the carbon market by adjudicating contract disputes and other cases related to the carbon market in accordance with the law. ”Zhao Ke, Director of the Regulations and Standards Department of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, said. As an important component of China's carbon market system, the National Greenhouse Gas Voluntary Emission Reduction Trading Market verifies voluntary emission reduction trading, converts emission reduction effects into tradable assets, and encourages the whole society to participate in greenhouse gas emission reduction together. Regarding the legal nature of verifying voluntary emission reductions, Case 2: A chemical company in Qinghai sued an environmental technology company in Shenzhen and a third party, a Beijing exchange, over a dispute over a contract for verifying voluntary emission reductions. The case clearly states that verifying voluntary emission reductions is a new type of civil equity object that combines public interest and policy. The legally owned verified voluntary emission reductions by the trading subject are property rights and should be treated as intangible assets for tax purposes, effectively responding to market concerns, clarifying market rules, and promoting the optimization and improvement of carbon market mechanisms. Zhao Ke introduced that "carbon sink" is the process, activity, or mechanism of removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere through ecosystems such as forests, wetlands, and oceans. Carbon sinks generated based on projects need to be quantified and verified for filing before they can be converted into verified voluntary emission reductions that can be traded in the carbon market. As a judicial practice in ecological environment law enforcement, 'carbon sink subscription' innovatively integrates ecological environment restoration, climate change response, market incentives, and legal responsibilities by allowing infringers to purchase carbon sinks instead of fulfilling ecological environment restoration and damage compensation responsibilities, in order to protect the ecosystem's carbon sequestration and sink enhancement functions. This helps reduce carbon emissions, enrich the ecological environment legal responsibility system, and realize the value of ecological products. ”Zhao Ke stated. Case 3: Shanghai Railway Transport Procuratorate v. Wen et al. for illegal logging and civil public interest litigation, and Case 4: A company in Baoshan District, Shanghai for compensation for damage to green and ecological environments, reflect the relevant practices of the people's court and ecological environment department in regulating the application of "carbon sink subscription" responsibilities and promoting the effective realization of ecological product value. Strengthening professional construction and improving the legal application rules system for ecological environment trials. Compared with traditional fields, environmental resource trials have strong professionalism, with a wide range of points, multiple types of litigation, diverse restoration needs, complex liability methods, and strong professional technical requirements. Therefore, there is a higher demand for specialized trials. China has become the country with the widest coverage and most complete system of specialized ecological environment judicial institutions. ”At the press conference, Wu Zhaoxiang introduced that the People's Court has established more than 2400 specialized trial institutions and organizations for ecological environment, with 16000 police officers engaged in environmental resource trial work. 30 senior courts and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps branches have established environmental resource trial courts, and 8 intermediate courts including Nanjing, Kunming, Zhengzhou, Changchun, Urumqi, Chongqing, Chengdu, and Hefei have established specialized environmental resource courts. More than 1200 courts across the country have implemented centralized trial of environmental and resource criminal, civil, and administrative cases, promoting the legal connection between criminal prosecution, civil compensation, and administrative performance, and improving the quality and efficiency of ecological and environmental judicial protection. In addition, in the past five years, the legal application rules system for ecological environment trials has become increasingly sound and perfect. The Supreme People's Court focuses on practical key and difficult points, formulates 13 judicial interpretations, and constructs a practical and effective judicial rule system. Published 27 guiding cases on environmental public interest litigation and other topics, and released 34 batches of 271 typical cases on service guarantee for the "dual carbon" target. The People's Court Case Library has collected more than 350 environmental resource cases, with 5869 Q&A sessions on the Legal Answer Network and 115 high-quality Q&A sessions. The integration of the library and the internet effectively promotes the correct application of the law. It is worth noting that this year marks the 10th anniversary of the national strategy of "jointly protecting the Yangtze River and avoiding large-scale development" and the 5th anniversary of the implementation of the Yangtze River Protection Law. The ecological judicial protection in the Yangtze River Basin has always been a key focus of environmental resource adjudication work. Wu Zhaoxiang revealed in response to a reporter's question that in the past decade since the implementation of the Yangtze River Protection Strategy, the Supreme People's Court has issued 6 guiding opinions on serving and guaranteeing the construction of ecological civilization and green development in the Yangtze River Basin, the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, and the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta. 23 judicial interpretations on environmental resources have been formulated and revised, and 55 special guiding cases on environmental resources such as Yangtze River protection have been released, with 53 batches of 478 typical cases, continuously enriching green judgment rules and promoting green and low-carbon transformation. In terms of comprehensively improving the professionalization level of environmental and resource trials in the Yangtze River Basin, Wu Zhaoxiang introduced that the People's Court has established 1003 specialized environmental and resource trial institutions and organizations in the Yangtze River Basin according to local conditions, and has set up six environmental and resource courts in Nanjing, Chongqing, and other areas. Circuit trial stations have been set up in areas such as river sources, national parks, and characteristic industrial areas, and a comprehensive and systematic system of specialized trial organizations in the basin has been basically formed. At the same time, we will steadily promote the criminal, civil, and administrative centralized trial mechanisms for environmental resources in the Yangtze River Basin, coordinate the application of legal responsibilities, and achieve integrated protection and restoration of the ecological environment. Strengthening judicial protection, enhancing collaborative cooperation, and demonstrating China's responsibility for ecological environment justice. During the 14th Five Year Plan period, the people's courts adhered to the priority of protection and prevention, issued judicial interpretations of ecological environment infringement prohibition orders, issued nearly 300 prohibition orders, fully utilized the functions of behavior preservation and advance execution system, and strengthened the front-end prevention of ecological environment damage. In terms of implementing the "second half of the article" on ecological environment restoration, Wu Zhaoxiang introduced that the people's courts adhere to the responsibility for damages, implement the concept of restorative justice, actively extend the judicial protection of ecological environment to the post judgment restoration stage, and promote timely and effective restoration of damaged ecological environment. Jiangsu and Anhui courts have collaborated to transfer restoration funds across provinces for the protection of the Yangtze River coastline and finless porpoises. The Chongqing court will hand over the executed restoration funds to the Yunnan court to organize the restoration of ecologically damaged areas and promote the governance of the entire watershed system. The Shanxi court has been following up and supervising for 5 years to complete the closure and greening of a tailings pond covering 1840 acres and over 16 million cubic meters. In terms of establishing a sound collaborative protection system and mechanism, in the past five years, the people's courts have adhered to the principle of attaching equal importance to handling cases in accordance with the law and promoting governance. They have strengthened practical cooperation with relevant departments in transferring clues, information sharing, investigation and evidence collection, environmental restoration, etc., and promoted the organic connection and consistency of ecological environment law enforcement and judiciary. For example, Guangdong courts have jointly issued regulatory measures for restoration and transfer, and worked together to solve the problem of ecological environment restoration. Give full play to the role of judicial advice in plugging loopholes and promoting governance, promote the improvement of management systems, and prevent risks and hidden dangers. In terms of watershed protection, 11 departments including the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment jointly issued the Opinions on Strengthening the Coordination of Law Enforcement and Judicial Work in the Yangtze River Basin, consolidating the legal force for the protection of the Yangtze River. The Yangtze River Basin Court has established 876 multi-level and multi domain judicial collaborative protection mechanisms, and set up 868 comprehensive judicial protection and restoration sites in the Three River Source and other areas, promoting the improvement and efficiency of ecological environment protection and governance in the Yangtze River. It is worth noting that in the past five years, the international influence of China's ecological environment trials has significantly increased. As of now, the United Nations Environment Programme database has collected 5 batches of 55 Chinese environmental justice cases and 10 judicial reports, showcasing the "governance of China" in ecological and environmental justice protection through vivid case examples. Officials from the United Nations Environment Programme stated that Chinese cases have significant global impact, and the professionalization of environmental justice in China is at the forefront of the world. ”Wu Zhaoxiang told reporters at the press conference. Next, the People's Court will thoroughly implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the previous plenary sessions of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, firmly grasp the primary task of high-quality development, faithfully perform the mission of judicial protection of ecological environment, and provide a stronger and more powerful judicial guarantee for building a Chinese path to modernization in which people and nature coexist in harmony. (New Society)