"Can Environmental Lawsuits in China Succeed?", 14 December, 2017

Air and water pollution are rising in China, and so is the number of lawsuits against polluters...A nationwide increase in lawsuits against polluters has been made possible by modifications in…laws… empower[ing] NGOs that have been registered and operating for more than five years to bring “public interest lawsuits.” …The growing role of lawsuits to punish illegal pollution is welcome, but progress is slow...[The law amendment] authorized suits against polluters, but not against government agencies…

Environmental litigation is an area in which citizens can act to protect themselves against unhealthy pollution and at the same time it is also an area in which the central government is able to act powerfully to protect citizens…The current activities of NGOs, citizens, and prosecutors suggest that environmental litigation generally is in a “no man’s land.” At present, the emphasis on reducing pollution may necessitate continuing the current mustering of resources to use the courts. The Party-state’s fixation on strengthening “social stability,” however, won’t go away. If public interest litigation grows, and with it public opinion favoring the desirability of increasing it, policy could change and limits could be imposed on such litigation. This would be entirely consistent with the People’s Republic of China’s treatment of legal institutions as instruments for implementing policy rather than supporting the rule of law.

The broadening of the scope of environmental public interest cases that can be brought by an expanded range of actors creates possibilities for considerable progress in the use of the legal system to control pollution—if, and only if, the government…allows it.