BEIJING, March 10 (Xinhua) — With a draft outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan under examination and discussion by China’s top legislature and political advisory body at their ongoing annual sessions, the new development roadmap is set to shape the country’s pathways toward a modernization that stands out in how it interacts with nature.
The 2026-2030 period marks a critical stage for China in its quest to basically achieve socialist modernization by 2035, with harmony between humanity and nature standing as a distinctive feature of Chinese modernization.
The opening meeting of the fourth session of the 14th National People’s Congress (NPC) is held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 5, 2026. (Xinhua/Wang Jianhua)The opening meeting of the fourth session of the 14th National People’s Congress (NPC) is held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 5, 2026. (Xinhua/Wang Xi)Wang Jinnan, a member of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), speaks on behalf of the Central Committee of the Chinese Peasants and Workers Democratic Party at the third plenary meeting of the fourth session of the 14th CPPCC National Committee at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 8, 2026. Wang stressed the need to accelerate the green transition in economic and social development and promote eco-friendly lifestyles to advance the building of a Beautiful China. (Xinhua/Zhang Ling)
The 14th National People’s Congress, China’s top legislature, opened its fourth session on March 5, 2026, to which a draft environmental code was submitted for deliberation.
Once adopted, it will become China’s second formal statutory code, after the Civil Code, which was adopted in 2020.
The latest legislative move comes amid China’s historic gains in ecological conservation over the past decade or so. Championing green development, the country has recorded the world’s fastest growth in forest resources and afforestation, led globally in renewable energy development, and achieved one of the fastest national reductions in energy intensity worldwide.
An aerial drone photo taken on July 11, 2025 shows the scenery of Zhagana Village in Tewo County of Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, northwest China’s Gansu Province. (Xinhua/Chen Bin)An aerial drone photo taken on June 21, 2025 shows a view of the Saihanba National Forest Park in Chengde City, north China’s Hebei Province. (Photo by Liu Mancang/Xinhua)An aerial drone photo taken on July 5, 2025 shows tourists visiting a national forest park in Arxan of Hinggan League, north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Bei He) Forest rangers measure the diameter of a tree at the Changpoling Forest Farm in Guiyang, southwest China’s Guizhou Province, July 1, 2025. (Xinhua/Yang Wenbin)
In China, the world’s largest electricity consumer, one in every three kilowatt-hours of electricity comes from green energy sources, powering daily life, while reshaping the national and global energy and industrial landscapes, according to the National Energy Administration (NEA).
An aerial drone photo taken on Dec. 21, 2025 shows the offshore oil and gas platforms in the Bohai Oilfield. (Photo by Du Penghui/Xinhua)An aerial drone photo taken on Feb. 7, 2025 shows the Three Gorges Dam and its outbound power transmission lines in Yichang, central China’s Hubei Province. (Photo by Zheng Jiayu/Xinhua) An aerial drone photo taken on Aug. 19, 2025 shows a wind power project in Qiubei County, southwest China’s Yunnan Province. (Xinhua/Peng Yikai)An aerial drone photo taken on Nov. 14, 2025 shows a photovoltaic base in Dongsanzhuang of Mengyin County in Linyi City, east China’s Shandong Province. (Photo by Gong Maodong/Xinhua)
China has also made historic achievements in river protection and governance.
An aerial drone photo taken on June 3, 2025 shows a view of the Qiandao Lake in east China’s Zhejiang Province. (Xinhua/Xu Yu)Cole flowers are in full bloom along the Xin’an River in Shexian County of Huangshan City, east China’s Anhui Province, March 20, 2025. (Photo by Zheng Hong/Xinhua) This photo taken on May 10, 2025 shows a city view of Chongqing, southwest China. (Xinhua/Wang Quanchao) Staff members of the Luogu River hydrological station conduct a monitoring operation in Mohe, northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province, March 21, 2025. (Xinhua/Zhang Tao)Workers take care of plants on a floating island on the Dianchi Lake in Kunming City, southwest China’s Yunnan Province, Jan. 22, 2026. (Xinhua/Peng Yikai)
Furthermore, efforts to restore key ecosystems have yielded results. The country has achieved a consecutive reduction in both desertified and sandy land areas, becoming the first in the world to reach “zero growth” in land degradation.
An aerial drone photo shows a view of Tianchi Lake scenic spot, transformed from closed mines and abandoned mining pits, at Baihu Mountain in Hetaoyuan Town of Juye County, east China’s Shandong Province, June 4, 2025. (Xinhua/Guo Xulei) This aerial drone photo taken on Jan. 31, 2025 shows a view of the Hainan Lingshui Mangrove National Wetland Park in south China’s Hainan Province. (Xinhua/Pu Xiaoxu)An aerial drone photo taken on Jan. 11, 2026 shows a view of grass grids in the desert around Kawak Township of Moyu County, Hotan Prefecture, northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Ding Lei)An aerial drone photo taken on June 6, 2025 shows the oasis in Kubuqi Desert in Hangjin Banner of Erdos City, north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Lian Zhen)
China has effectively conserved more than 80 percent of its nationally protected wild terrestrial animal and plant species, following marked improvement in the quality of wildlife habitats, according to the National Forestry and Grassland Administration.
This photo taken on July 16, 2025 shows a Tibetan fox at the Changtang National Nature Reserve, southwest China’s Xizang Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Jiang Fan)An aerial drone photo taken on Dec. 9, 2025 shows Kiangs (Equus kiang) running on grasslands at the Altun Mountains National Nature Reserve in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Xin Yuewei)Tobgye feeds peanuts to Tibetan macaques at Linze ecological and cultural scenic area in Linze Village of Gongbo’Gyamda County, Nyingchi City, southwest China’s Xizang Autonomous Region, July 23, 2025. (Xinhua/Tenzin Nyida)Li Xin (R) and Wang Yongman, both staff members of the Jinfo Mountain National Nature Reserve administration, check the growth of cathay silver fir seedlings at the reserve in Nanchuan District, southwest China’s Chongqing, Sept. 22, 2025. (Xinhua/Tang Yi)This photo taken on Jan. 5, 2025 shows a Yangtze finless porpoise swimming near the lower reaches of the Gezhouba Dam in Yichang City, central China’s Hubei Province. (Xinhua/Xiao Yijiu)
The draft outline unveiled a set of tasks and goals to accelerate green transition across the board over the next five years.
Among the 20 major indicators for economic and social development during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, five are related to green and low-carbon development, according to the draft outline.
The country will speed up the shift to eco-friendly production practices and lifestyles, and ensure that the goal of peaking carbon emissions before 2030 is accomplished as planned, paving the way for the realization of carbon neutrality before 2060.
A drone photo taken on Oct. 9, 2025 shows a worker operating industrial robots to produce new energy vehicle components at a digital workshop of an auto parts company in Huzhou, east China’s Zhejiang Province. (Photo by Tan Yunfeng/Xinhua) A drone photo taken on Oct. 21, 2025 shows harvesters harvesting rice in a paddy field, with a high-speed train in the background, in Hangzhou, east China’s Zhejiang Province. (Xinhua/Xu Yu)An aerial drone photo taken on June 14, 2025 shows herdsmen driving their livestock through the night on the way to a summer pasture on Ar Horqin Grassland, Chifeng, north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Ma Jinrui)An aerial drone photo taken on July 3, 2025 shows a marine ranch in Lianjiang County of Fuzhou, southeast China’s Fujian Province. (Xinhua/Wei Peiquan)Employees work in the office area at the headquarters of Guanxu Electronics Co., Ltd., a zero-carbon factory, in Shenzhen, south China’s Guangdong Province, on April 2, 2025. (Xinhua/Mao Siqian)People have fun along a river flanked by flowering crabapple trees in Chaoyang District in Beijing, capital of China, April 6, 2025. (Xinhua/Hu Jingwen)A boy eats tanghulu, a traditional Chinese snack consisting of sugar-coated haws or fruits, at a tanghulu-themed fair in Jiaozhou, east China’s Shandong Province, Feb. 18, 2026. (Photo by Wang Zhaomai/Xinhua)An aerial drone photo taken on Oct. 24, 2025 shows vehicles running on a road lined by trees at Guankou Village of Qianjiang District in Chongqing, southwest China. (Photo by Yang Min/Xinhua)This stack composite photo taken on Dec. 13, 2025 shows the starry sky over Baisha Town of Lijiang City, southwest China’s Yunnan Province. (Xinhua/Hu Chao)■
