To assist the nation in achieving its emission reduction targets, one of China’s top courts has strenghtened judges to hear cases involving climate change and consider carbon impacts.
The Supreme People’s Court issued new rules that instruct judges to weigh corporate emission reduction and development when rendering verdicts in legal cases, which is a significant legal intervention.
The 24-article document permits courts throughout China to hear cases involving energy conservation and emission reduction, low-carbon technology, carbon trading, green finance, and promoting the mitigation and adaptation to climate change.
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It lists 11 examples of climate-related cases that courts can face, such as deforestation, air pollution liability, contract disputes, and the execution of carbon emission quotas. According to the document, judges should pay special attention to the carbon trading market, which has recently been the subject of numerous legal issues.
The new guidelines are an important step in putting environmental protection commitments in the report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China into practice, according to Liu Zhumei, chief environmental judge at the Supreme People’s Court adjudication tribunal for environment and resources.
She added that “The guideline is also the first judicial document made by the top court to regulate case handling on the carbon peak and carbon.”
Story was adapted from Climate Home News
