Criminal Justice of Environmental Violations in China

Situated within the broader imperative of “building an ecological civilisation,” the Chinese government has increasingly turned to criminal sanctions as a strategic instrument for punishing severe pollution and deterring substantial environmental harms. This reliance on criminal law-backed strategies raises critical questions about how such measures are enforced and how effective they prove as a mode of environmental governance. To address these questions, this project examines China’s use of criminal law in combating severe environmental pollution, with a focus on judicial enforcement and its deterrent effect on both corporate and individual offenders. Drawing on an interdisciplinary framework that integrates public policy, law, and business studies, the project is carried out through collaboration between CUHK scholars and international co-investigators, lending the research a distinctly international perspective. Its core objectives are to develop a rigorous conceptual framework grounded in the literature on environmental crime, comparative criminal law, and environmental governance; to conduct an in-depth assessment of China’s environmental criminal justice system; to systematically analyse environmental criminal cases; to evaluate the system’s effectiveness in controlling violations; and to propose concrete reform measures for strengthening pollution prevention and control. In terms of impact, the project is designed to generate both academic contributions and tangible policy outcomes through high-impact publications, an international workshop on corporate environmental crime, and actionable recommendations to be communicated to legislators and regulators at multiple levels. Ultimately, the research seeks to strengthen China’s legal framework for pollution control and to establish a solid empirical foundation for future cross-national comparative studies, with global significance extending to regions along the Belt and Road pathway.