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# Engaging with China’s Environmental Judiciary
- URL: https://www.the-burl.com/the-envi/
- Published: 2026-08-08T17:13:09.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-08T22:03:44.000Z
- Author: Christophe Courchesne

> China has long looked for international inspiration to confront the environmental challenges of its rapid industrialization; with U.S. sustainability policy in limbo, my recent trip suggests China’s recent legal innovations should be a source of inspiration for us.

In June, I was extraordinarily fortunate to travel to an international legal convening in the ancient and booming city of Hangzhou, China. Over the course of three days, jurists and legal experts from around the world engaged with many of the Chinese judiciary‘s environmental judges and other public officials. The events were collaboratively facilitated by China’s [Supreme People’s Court](https://english.court.gov.cn/?ref=the-burl.com) and the international environmental nonprofit [ClientEarth](https://www.clientearth.org/?ref=the-burl.com). Past Vermont Law School faculty like Marc Mihaly, David Mears, and the late Jack Tuholske as well as summer faculty member Bob Percival have made similar visits, and it was a profound honor to continue this tradition on behalf of VLGS. I was deeply grateful for the invitation and for ClientEarth’s and the Court’s incredible, world-class hospitality.

The other international visitors included Justices from the Supreme Courts of Nepal (Justice Sapana Pradhan Malla), Pakistan (Justice Ayesha Malik), and Finland (Justice Tuomas Kuokkanen), as well as representatives from the [United Nations Environment Programme](https://www.unep.org/?ref=the-burl.com)’s Asia and Pacific Office (Dechen Tsering and Georgina Lloyd), ClientEarth’s Brussels office (Anaïs Berthier), and the University of Oxford Faculty of Law (Sanja Bogojevic, Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Research). 

Each of us gave an extended lecture to the assembled environmental judges and participated in an international workshop that included senior members of the Chinese judiciary, Chinese legal scholars, and government officials. My presentations focused on U.S. litigation that intersects with the energy transition; other participants shared international perspectives on environmental rights, carbon markets, sustainable development, and state and judicial efforts to address climate change. At the heart of the conference was the legal system’s responses and roles in the transition away from economies based on fossil fuels and polluting industries toward greener development and greater environmental stewardship, and a major theme was the need for a robust “[environmental rule of law](https://www.unep.org/topics/environmental-law-and-governance/promoting-environmental-rule-law/environmental-rule-law?ref=the-burl.com).”

For example, Justice Malla, joined on stage by her colleague Rose Singh, presented a detailed account of the evolution of environmental jurisprudence in the courts of Nepal, including the incorporation of environmental rights into constitutional decisionmaking. Her presentation reflected her assessment that environmental adjudication requires the environmental judge to engage with science, economics, and international declarations, as well as the jurisdiction’s binding constitutional, statutory, and decisional law. 

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/d7/46/d746b742-e460-4e3e-a6cc-5dd59577fd81/content/images/2026/08/IMG_1127.jpeg)

Justice Malla of the Nepal Supreme Court (with Rose Singh) addresses Chinese environmental judges

Chinese judges, scholars, and officials shared stories of environmental progress, including the judiciary’s recent record in handling environmental cases and [the government’s recent adoption of an Eco-Environmental Code](https://www.clientearth.asia/latest/news/china-s-new-environmental-code-how-big-of-a-deal-is-it/?ref=the-burl.com)—a compilation of the country’s many environmental, energy, and sustainable development laws under a single legal umbrella, a framework of interpretive principles, and the first national climate legislation. During the conference, there was a strong sense of China’s policy momentum toward environmental protection and climate action. I was also impressed by the commitment, curiosity, and energy of the Chinese environmental judges.

My presentations provided an orientation to the complexities of U.S. energy law and governance and an update on the U.S. energy transition, including the continued strong growth of renewable energy despite policy volatility. The body of my remarks made an effort to map some dimensions of what I called “energy transition litigation.” This broad category of lawsuits includes challenges to environmental reviews and impacts of energy projects, disputes over energy transition policies and regulation, and transition accountability litigation. I surveyed several cases including major Supreme Court decisions of recent years and example cases from New England, including the state permitting failure of the Northern Pass transmission project in New Hampshire and [the pending lawsuits to invalidate Vermont‘s Climate Superfund Act](https://www.vpirg.org/news/superfund-legal-defense/?ref=the-burl.com). 

From this contested and messy landscape, I do not discern clear or directional trends, so I shared a few takeaways for the participating judges, public officials, and academics. 

*First*, environmental and energy issues are interwoven at all levels, and well-informed resolution of disputes requires more literacy in the dynamics of the energy transition on the part of courts, practitioners, and policy makers. 

*Second*, incumbent utilities and industries have significant resource and tactical advantages, and their incentives to shape or obstruct the transition are a major driver of law and policy outcomes, including in courtrooms. 

*Third*, the U.S. energy system’s complex multi-level governance is inherent in every dispute but can be deeply challenging to navigate, especially where there are conflicts in shifting federal, state, and local policy priorities. 

*Fourth*, economic forces and perceptions have a strong influence on energy system decision-making—as the discourse of energy affordability and energy prices has often stymied policy innovations and economical long-term investments that would support a more just transition. 

*Fifth*, and relatedly, the unevenness of the U.S. energy transition, seen through the lens of energy litigation, reflects fairly rampant inattention to the importance of community engagement and sentiment, including energy and environmental justice considerations (a point [I made](https://medium.com/@courchesnec/lessons-from-4-years-of-northern-pass-failures-e255de34cc5c?ref=the-burl.com) more than a decade ago in the context of Northern Pass).

And *finally*, it is clear that the judiciary will shape implementation of transition policies, and that reality is playing out right now: take the fate of offshore wind development in the face of attacks by the current Administration, or the legality of federal climate mitigation regulations and state adaptation measures.

After my presentation at the international workshop, I gave an interview to several Chinese news outlets. The visuals from CGTN provide a good sense of the scene at the workshop.

[Judicial Cooperation: Global jurists gather in Hangzhou to discuss how judicial systems can drive green developmentTop judges and legal minds from around the world have gathered for a major international symposium in Hangzhou, capital of east China’s Zhejiang Province. Their focus is on how judicial systems can actively drive the global transition toward a green, low-carbon future. At the heart of the dialogue is China’s newly enacted Environmental Code. It’s a unified legal framework that international observers say could pave the way for global environmental governance. Feng Yilei has the story. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/d7/46/d746b742-e460-4e3e-a6cc-5dd59577fd81/content/images/icon/logo_title-ee97fe12-458b-46d2-9f7c-ede8ac212d0d.png)CGTN![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/d7/46/d746b742-e460-4e3e-a6cc-5dd59577fd81/content/images/thumbnail/550236-3da8a50b-61ac-4d1b-9944-3fef64fdbe30.png)](https://news.cgtn.com/news/2026-06-26/VHJhbnNjcmlwdDkxMjg1/index.html?ref=the-burl.com)

[Global experts back greener development through rule of law![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/d7/46/d746b742-e460-4e3e-a6cc-5dd59577fd81/content/images/icon/sharelogo2-579cfea4-d344-490b-b5a5-3c0437edfb01.jpg)chinadaily.com.cnCAO YIN![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/d7/46/d746b742-e460-4e3e-a6cc-5dd59577fd81/content/images/thumbnail/6a3be30aa310986e101848c3-f6dda935-cdbd-4061-93fe-f97d44bb8698.jpeg)](https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202606/24/WS6a3be30aa310986e2b461bb6.html?ref=the-burl.com)

Before the conference in Hangzhou, I spent a short time visiting Beijing with the wonderful Mengxing Liu, a leader in ClientEarth‘s China office, and my brilliant VLGS colleague Professor Yanmei Lin, who lives part-time in China and now directs VLGS’s [U.S.-Asia Partnerships for Environmental Law](https://www.vermontlaw.edu/academics/centers-and-programs/us-asia?ref=the-burl.com). While in Beijing, I also had the privilege of dining with a spirited group of VLGS alumni and friends. I then joined Dimitri de Boer, the longtime director of ClientEarth’s China program, on the bullet train to make the four-hour journey south to Hangzhou.

In Hangzhou, my colleagues and I participated in boat rides on the iconic West Lake and in the Xixi National Wetland Park, toured a provincial court that had considerable experience adjudicating disputes arising from the region’s famous tea plantations (enjoying a traditional tea ceremony), and visited the silk market that served as an anchor for the ancient Silk Road through Asia.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/d7/46/d746b742-e460-4e3e-a6cc-5dd59577fd81/content/images/2026/08/IMG_0912.jpeg)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/d7/46/d746b742-e460-4e3e-a6cc-5dd59577fd81/content/images/2026/08/IMG_0961.jpeg)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/d7/46/d746b742-e460-4e3e-a6cc-5dd59577fd81/content/images/2026/08/IMG_1018-1.jpeg)

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![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/d7/46/d746b742-e460-4e3e-a6cc-5dd59577fd81/content/images/2026/08/IMG_1084.jpeg)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/d7/46/d746b742-e460-4e3e-a6cc-5dd59577fd81/content/images/2026/08/IMG_1104.jpeg)

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![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/d7/46/d746b742-e460-4e3e-a6cc-5dd59577fd81/content/images/2026/08/IMG_1160.jpeg)

From my brief time in China, it was evident that the country is moving quickly in a low-carbon direction. The roads of the two major cities I visited were full of e-bikes and new electric vehicles, with their green license plates, of many makes and models unheard of in the United States. Despite a very warm and humid week, air quality was healthier than recently experienced in the northeast U.S., which has been beset by waves of wildfire smoke again this summer. The bullet train, itself a marvel, passed through dense, growing cities and within sight of wind and solar farms of astounding scale. The sustainability challenges of industrialization and development, including exploding Chinese consumer culture and the construction of new physical infrastructure, were also all around us. What was ultimately so inspirational about the visit was the sense that China’s judiciary seems committed to a vision of an “ecological civilization,” where environmental stewardship and climate justice reside at the center of the legal system. With these values so counterproductively contested here in the United States, it was a breath of fresh air.

*My deepest thanks for a trip of a lifetime to VLGS Professors Xiaoyu Zhang (a ClientEarth China office alum) and Yanmei Lin, and the team at ClientEarth, including Dimitri, Mengxing, Boya Jiang, and Xin Wang. For more photos, check out* [*my Flickr album of the trip*](https://flickr.com/photos/95344565@N00/sets/72177720334450604?ref=the-burl.com)*.*

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*Welcome to The Burl, a website with writing and updates from Christophe Courchesne, Director of the Vermont Law and Graduate School Environmental Law Center.* [*Sign up to receive new posts in your inbox*](https://the-burl.com/?ref=the-burl.com) *and also for the* [*Environmental Law Center‘s monthly newsletter*](https://vermontlaw.us12.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=a8190e5d252491355aa007885&id=1323fa37de&ref=the-burl.com)*.*