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    An aerial drone photo taken on Aug. 11, 2026 shows egrets in a wetland of Honghe National Nature Reserve in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. (Photo: Xinhua)
China took a major step toward green modernization on Saturday as its landmark Ecological and Environmental Code officially came into force, strengthening the legal foundation for a more harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature.
Adopted by China's top legislature in March, the code is China's second formal statutory code after the Civil Code.
The code comprises 1,242 articles in five chapters, covering pollution control, ecological protection, and green and low-carbon development, among other areas.
As China advances its Beautiful China initiative, the code is expected to strengthen rule-of-law guarantees for ecological protection and provide fresh impetus for the country's green and low-carbon transition.
A STRONGER SHIELD FOR NATURE
Now in effect, the Ecological and Environmental Code brings together more than 30 laws, 100 administrative regulations, and 1,000 local laws and regulations through systematic integration, compilation, revision, and refinement, creating stronger legal synergy for ecological protection.
"This is a historic shift in the logic of China's ecological and environmental governance," said Qin Tianbao, a professor at Wuhan University. With the new code, China's ecological protection is moving from fragmented management toward systematic governance, Qin said.
The new code has also been welcomed by local judicial authorities across the country, who say it will have a major impact on their work.
"As the code comes into force, we have clearer guidance and a more focused approach when handling cases related to ecological, environmental and resource protection," said Xu Xufen, a judge at the Intermediate People's Court of Huzhou City in east China's Zhejiang Province.
This is because the code establishes a systematic, comprehensive and clearly structured set of legal values, which provide fundamental guidance for adjudication, Xu said.
China's ecological protection legislation has made continued progress in recent years, forming a wide-ranging, detailed and practical legal framework. However, analysts note that some obstacles remain, including fragmentation among different laws and regulations.
The code can help resolve legal conflicts and fill gaps, making the country's ecological and environmental legal system more integrated and coordinated, and better able to keep pace with the times, said Yu Wenxuan, a professor at the China University of Political Science and Law.
The strengthened legal framework comes alongside years of efforts that have produced key environmental gains. Some innovative explorations include the river, lake and forest chief systems, as well as central environmental protection inspections, which have all been included into the code.
Such efforts have led to major changes in China's ecological protection, with key indicators continuing to improve. In 2025, the average PM2.5 concentration in major Chinese cities fell to 28 micrograms per cubic meter, while the proportion of days with good air quality reached 89.3 percent, both the best levels since monitoring began. China has become one of the countries with the fastest improvement in air quality in the world.
By the end of 2025, China's national forest coverage rate had exceeded 25 percent. Since the beginning of this century, about one quarter of the world's newly afforested areas have come from China. The country has recorded the world's largest and fastest growth in forest resources.
Looking ahead, China has mapped out the next stage of its ecological protection drive. In July, the State Council issued a plan for building a Beautiful China during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030), setting out the overall requirements, targets, key tasks and major projects for comprehensively advancing the initiative.
According to the plan, by 2030, China will achieve an overall improvement in ecological and environmental quality and make significant progress toward building a Beautiful China, with green production and lifestyles largely established and the carbon peaking target reached on schedule.
CHARTING A GREENER FUTURE
By dedicating a chapter to green and low-carbon development, the code helps bring environmental protection and economic development into closer alignment -- two goals often seen as being in tension, said Hou Jiaru, a professor at the China University of Political Science and Law.
"It combines the philosophy of development through protection and protection through development," Hou said.
In practice, China has made solid progress in advancing green development in recent years. The country has cultivated more than 8,000 national-level green factories, built the world's largest clean power supply system and largest clean steel production system, and established the world's largest carbon emissions trading market.
Echoing the spirit of the new code, China's outline of its 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) prioritizes accelerating the comprehensive green transition of economic and social development, calling for faster progress in shaping green modes of production and day-to-day life.
China has also sought to share its green development experience with the world, contributing Chinese solutions to global ecological protection and sustainable development.
In Egypt, for example, a water-saving terraced farming model introduced from China has been replicated, helping conserve water and support agriculture in the mountainous areas of the Sinai Peninsula. In Saudi Arabia, China's photovoltaic technology is helping the Middle Eastern country harness desert sunshine for solar power, offering a practical path toward clean energy transition.
As the code takes effect, China's green modernization drive is gaining not only a stronger legal foundation at home, but also broader relevance for global sustainable development in an era when fragmented legislation is increasingly inadequate for addressing complex environmental challenges.
To this end, the code includes specific provisions on international cooperation, calling on China to strengthen collaboration on ecological and environmental protection, fulfill its obligations under international treaties it has concluded or joined, and promote cooperation in addressing climate change.
Analysts say that the code marks a significant transition for China in global environmental governance, from participant to leader, while offering a legislative model for the world, especially developing countries.
In particular, the code's integrated approach to pollution prevention, ecological protection and green, low-carbon development -- all key issues on the global agenda, represents an important technical contribution to global legislative practice, said Qin.
"The code sends a clear signal to the international community: China is firmly advancing ecological priority and green development in accordance with the rule of law, and is willing to work with countries around the world to build a clean and beautiful world," he added. 
。    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued a notice suggesting it may consider a proposal to ban the use of formaldehyde in hair straightening and hair smoothing products.The FDA's consideration of the proposal was entered in the Unified Agenda, a government registry of actions that administrative agencies plan to issue.There is no set timeline on when the agency may consider the proposal or when, if it moves forward, a ban would go into effect.Frequent use of hair-straightening products that include chemicals like formaldehyde has been found in studies to put women at a higher risk for uterine cancer.One study published last year found an association that women who self-reported frequent use of hair straightening products were more than twice as likely to later develop uterine cancer than women who did not use the products. Scientists caution that it's not clear yet if these products cause cancer. For now, research only hints at only a probable link.Uterine cancer, a type of cancer that starts in the uterus, is a risk factor for anyone with a uterus, but the risk increases with age, especially during and after menopause, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Last year's study found that Black women may be more affected by the increased risk of uterine cancer not because of their race, but due to the fact that they use chemical hair straightening products at a higher rate. Frequent use of the products was defined as more than four times in the previous year, according to the study, which included more than 33,000 women between the ages of 35 to 74.Formaldehyde is described by the Environmental Protection Agency as a "colorless, flammable gas" that can cause "adverse health effects" with exposure. When used in hair smoothing products, the formaldehyde is released into the air as a gas when the products are heated.The Department of Health and Human Services lists formaldehyde as a "known carcinogen."The FDA issued a warning last year stating that the use of hair smoothing products in an area that is not properly ventilated could lead to a risk of a person inhaling formaldehyde. In the warning, the agency acknowledged it began receiving "inquiries from consumers and salon professionals" about the safety of formaldehyde in products as far back as 20 years ago.Melanie Benesh, vice president for government affairs at the Environmental Working Group, an environmental advocacy organization, described the FDA's consideration of a ban on formaldehyde as a move that is "welcome, but long overdue."Benesh pointed out that the Environmental Working Group published a report as early as 2011 on the widespread use of formaldehyde in hair product brands and in salons across the U.S."The FDA has been aware of this issue for a long time," Benesh told "Good Morning America," adding, "There is no reason that the FDA shouldn’t have acted earlier on what is a real public health issue, particularly for salon workers."The FDA did not reply to ABC News' request for comment in response to Benesh's claim that the agency should have acted sooner.Benesh added that salon workers are at increased risk of adverse health effects due to their prolonged exposure to the types of hair treatments that include chemicals, including keratin treatments and Brazilian blowouts."Consumers are going to be exposed if they get one of those treatments or if you're in the salon while someone else is getting that same kind of treatment," she said. "But salon workers are more likely to do multiple treatments a day or multiple treatments a week and over the course of a year, and so those repeat exposures can really add up to an increased risk."California and Maryland recently passed state legislation banning the use of formaldehyde in hair straightening products. Both laws are set to go into effect January 2025.Benesh noted there are hair straightening and smoothing products currently on the market that do not use formaldehyde. She said her advice to consumers and salon workers is to not wait for regulatory action but instead refrain from using hair products with formaldehyde on their own."There's no reason to wait until the law takes effect or until a proposed rule takes effect to switch to safer products, or to just no longer offer those services if you can't find a hair smoothing or hair straightening treatment that you like that doesn't use formaldehyde," Benesh said. "It's not worth the risk. It's not worth your stylists or your consumers potentially getting cancer just to have straight hair."。

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