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For the past couple of decades, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has been threatened by unprecedented environmental challenges. These challenges need to be resolved. The environmental public interest litigation (EPIL) system was introduced, to enhance public participation in environmental governance, in an attempt to strengthen environmental protection in the PRC. Existing literature on the EPIL system provides great insight into both its theoretical and practical function and role, but few studies have yet to evaluate the system on the background of a set of political aims and legal values. This study, therefore, seeks to fill in the gap by addressing some of the key challenges concerning the implementation of the EPIL system in the context of its underpinning theory for creation, namely Xi Jinping’s Thought on “Ecological Civilization” and the principle of the rule of law. Through a careful discussion of the EPIL system, taking into account its legal and political context, it has been argued that the EPIL system fails to reach its overall objective of enhancing public participation. This is due to the weak implementation of the principle of the rule of law and its core elements: separation of power, judicial independence, certainty of law and supremacy of law. Furthermore, research findings have implied that due to the Chinese legal system’s unwillingness to uphold the principle of the rule of law, there is a considerable risk that the EPIL system could be exploited as a legal tool for strengthening social control.

I. Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1
II. Literature Review and the Theoretical Framework ................................................. 3 
2.1 Literature Review .......................................................................................................... 3 
2.1.1 Environmental Management in the People’s Republic of China ........................... 4 
2.1.2 Environmental Protection Legal Framework ......................................................... 6 
2.1.3 Environmental Public Interest Litigation ............................................................... 7 
2.2 Theoretical Framework ................................................................................................. 8 
2.2.1 The Rule of Law..................................................................................................... 9 
2.2.2 “Ecological Civilization” ..................................................................................... 12
III. The Chinese Legal System........................................................................................ 15 
3.1 The National People’s Congress ................................................................................. 15 
3.2 The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress ..................................... 17 
3.3 The State Council ........................................................................................................ 17 
3.4 The Hierarchies of Laws and Legislative Power Relationships.................................. 18 
3.5 The People’s Courts .................................................................................................... 20 
3.6 The People’s Procuratorates........................................................................................22
IV. Environmental Public Interest Litigation in the Context of the Environmental Protection Legal Framework.......................................................................................... 24
4.1 Environmental Protection Legal Framework .............................................................. 24 
4.2 Environmental Public Interest Litigation System ....................................................... 26 
4.3 Civil Environmental Public Interest Litigation by Social Organisations .................... 29 
4.4 Civil and Administrative Environmental Public Interest Litigation by Procuratorate 31 
4.5 Ecological Environmental Damage Compensation Litigation by the Government .... 32
V.PolicyImplications ....................................................................................................34 
5.1 Concentration of Power, a Threat to the Environmental Public Interest Litigation
System ............................................................................................................................... 34 
5.2 Law-Based Environmental Protection without the Supremacy of Law? .................... 38 
5.3 Judicial independence and the Struggle for Green Development ............................... 40 
5.4 Enhancing Public Participation without the Public? ................................................... 41
VI.Conclusion ................................................................................................................45 References......................................................................................................................... 47