In recent years, the Chinese government has undertaken significant legal strategies to rectify past regulatory wrongs, close enforcement gaps, and improve public participation. However, ongoing administrative reform and prevailing policies optimizing the business environment have made the efficacy of the environmental impact assessment (EIA) reform more complicated and uncertain. This seminar will use an analytical framework to evaluate the current legal reform of the EIA through examining how China’s EIA laws and regulations on accountability, compliance, and participation have changed.

Xiangbai He is an associate professor of Zhejiang University Guanghua Law School. Her research interests are climate change law and Chinese environmental law. She has published a monograph on climate change adaptation law (Springer) and co-edited a book on climate change law in China (Routledge). Xiangbai is teaching Chinese environmental law and international environmental law, and has published articles in those two areas.