An aerial photo of Sumeng county, East China's Zhejiang Province Photo: VCG

Editor's Note:

In an era marked by ecological challenges, development dilemmas and geopolitical dynamics are increasingly intertwined. Through a series of innovative practices, Chinese modernization offers a "green solution" to some of humanity's pressing questions of survival and development. Rooted in the wisdom of Chinese civilization and refined through Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization, this approach presents both a philosophical vision and a practical pathway toward sustainable development.

In this context, the Global Times (GT) launches the "China through a 'green' lens" series. It invites leading scholars and observers worldwide to decode the underlying logic behind China's green development and to better understand the global implications of China's green development philosophy.

In the fifth installment of the series, Attila Grandpierre (Grandpierre), visiting scholar at the Institute for Sustainability and the "Two Mountains" Concept Research Institute of Huzhou University and former research president of the Budapest Centre for Long-Term Sustainability, told GT reporter Wang Wenwen that the focus of China's institutional reform for ecological civilization has always been on better serving the people's broadly conceived needs.

GT: You once noted that the concept of sustainable development plays an important role in the construction of contemporary ecological civilization and argued that the most fundamental flaw of industrial civilization is its unsustainability, while ecological civilization is one that can be sustained in the long term. Can you elaborate on this?

Grandpierre: Industrial society, driven by material or power‑based profit, is unsustainable because its developmental direction diverges from the development of earthly life toward ever more favorable living conditions. It subordinates culture, politics and society to economic considerations. Sustainability requires that the social order be in harmony with the order of nature and follow the developmental direction of the biosphere - that is, it must develop in a direction favorable to life. A long‑term sustainable society is a life‑centered society - an ecological civilization. 

In full consonance with this, Chinese philosophy recognizes that humanity and nature form a single life community; therefore, ecological flourishing is the foundational condition for the flourishing of civilization.

GT: China's historic achievements in building an ecological civilization are inseparable from its institutional reform and innovation. In your analysis, how do institutional reform and innovation underpin China's sustainable development?

Grandpierre: China's institutional reform for ecological civilization has evolved through several phases, from early administrative restructuring to today's integrated, law‑driven system. The focus has always been on better serving the people's broadly conceived needs. From 1988 to 2013, a series of reforms shifted the state's role in the economy and introduced special authorities to integrate economic aims with the goal of ecological development, reducing overlapping responsibilities and improving cross‑agency coordination. In early 2026, China codified the theory of ecological civilization into the Ecological and Environmental Code, marking a shift toward strict, unified legal enforcement. Systemic governance now holistically manages major ecosystems, including the Yangtze River, Yellow River and Qinghai‑Tibet Plateau.

GT: Chinese President Xi Jinping once affirmed that the strictest systems and rigorous rule of law will provide guarantee for building ecological civilization. How do you see such determination and resolve?

Grandpierre: I see this resolve as historically grounded and institutionally concrete. China views ecological civilization as an important element of national rejuvenation. The new Ecological and Environmental Code elevates the ancient wisdom of "harmony between humanity and nature" from ethical aspiration to enforceable national will. It systematically integrates existing laws and administrative regulations, establishing the primacy of life value over pure capital profit - injecting soul and direction into the entire institutional system. 

China pioneered the ecological redline policy - legally demarcating zones where development is prohibited to safeguard critical ecosystems. The 2015 revised Environmental Protection Law introduced daily penalties - fines that accumulate each day until violations cease. This broke polluters' cost‑benefit calculus and translated the shared value of "ecological civilization" into enforceable legal consequences, creating certainty for both enterprises and communities. The 2025 regulations on ecological and environmental protection inspections sharpened the "sword" of environmental oversight.  

Underlying all this is a historically continuous, deeply rooted cultural foundation: a life‑centered and family‑centered value system in harmony with a broadly and profoundly conceived living nature. This system is not a cold punitive tool. It is intrinsic, deeply rooted and capable of unleashing the life energy of the whole society - a true civilization driver.

GT: Western electoral politics often leads to inconsistent climate commitments, while China achieves policy continuity through consistent institutional mechanisms. What are your views on China's institutional resilience and policy continuity?

Grandpierre: China's more than 5,000‑year‑old philosophy of governance is extremely profound and comprehensive; accordingly, it is highly stable and socially motivating. It is fundamentally family‑centered and life‑centered, valuing nature as permeated and governed by life's own natural way - the way of cosmic life itself. This philosophy and value system foster outstandingly resilient, life‑centered institutional systems, social cohesion and vitality, as well as a policy framework capable of resisting difficulties and coping with them. China's institutional resilience flows from a unique combination of cultural depth, unique governance capabilities, long-term planning, adaptive experimentation, and accountability.

GT: Some scholars believe that China provides a model of responsibility and certainty for a turbulent world through ecological rule of law. Do you agree? In your opinion, what are the core, transferable elements of this model?

Grandpierre: Yes, I fully agree - this is what a comprehensively life‑centered science indicates. Today's world suffers from short‑term profit‑seeking, fragmented decision‑making, and a disconnect between family values and institutional ones. China's ecological rule of law resonates with family, community and ecological values, offering a model of responsibility (toward future generations and the shared future of humanity) and certainty (a predictable long‑term direction). Among the transferable core elements, I must mention that China's ability to cope with problems is outstanding even by global standards. It is remarkably quick to recognize worthy ideas and experiences and translate them into society‑wide practice.

One highly notable and transferable aspect of Chinese ecological civilization is adaptive experimentation within stable principles. China's resilience is not merely top‑down; it is also bottom‑up. General principles are global and provide long‑term stability, but practical policies are local, piloted and tested. Policies such as Zhejiang's "Green Rural Revival" and Fujian's forest carbon trading are first tried in pilot provinces or cities before nationwide scaling. China's system is highly inclusive, flexible, actively learning and consolidating. Local governments in China have one of the highest budgets in the world relative to the central government, enabling vigorous local innovations to compete and consolidate.

No single model can be transplanted wholesale. However, the principles underlying China's approach - value‑centeredness, the cultivation of decision‑making and coping capacity, value‑based law, the supremacy of life's values over politics, holistic and relational causality, and the mobilization of life energy - are remarkable. They offer a responsible and certain direction to today's world, one aimed at improving life at all levels of human existence.