China’s Circular Economy (CE) policy has changed over the course of more than 20 years, drawing inspiration from Germany and Japan. In China, CE is a generic notion that encompasses all of the “reduce, reuse and recycle” actions taken during the processes of production, distribution, and consumption. In the chapter, we trace CE policy evolution journey, and zoom in policy contents by concentrating on policy prototypes, objectives, and instruments, and then briefly analyze policy impacts. To have a clear image of policy implementation, we take CE in industrial parks as an example and depict the process from policy to coordination and finally to practices in industrial parks. The challenges and opportunities are summarized. The overall CE policy evolution underwent five phases of emergence of local initiatives, the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) as the Policy Pioneer, proactive actions of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and rapid CE dissemination, legal promotion and institutionalization, and CE as a cornerstone toward net-zero emissions. CE policy in China manifested the following features. First, four policy prototypes, i.e., resource-oriented, production-oriented, waste policies, and use-oriented and life cycle policies, gradually evolved toward a comprehensive policy making of CE. Second, a range of policy objectives were formulated, enabling CE to be integrated into various policy fields and heated policy issues, thereby ensuring its ongoing viability. Third, it manifested a transition from motivating stakeholders by financial incentives in the initial phases to steering them by laws and regulations in the latter phases. Fourth, the policy impacts in terms of productivity and circularity increased significantly across phases. Nevertheless, a strong governance system, CE industry and innovation, integrating social benefits and enhancing mindsets toward a recycling society need to be embraced in order to create synergy between CE and the goal of Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality in China.

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China Circular Economy Policy Engineering

  • Wenting Jiao,
  • Wenting Ma,
  • Lei Shi

摘要

China’s Circular Economy (CE) policy has changed over the course of more than 20 years, drawing inspiration from Germany and Japan. In China, CE is a generic notion that encompasses all of the “reduce, reuse and recycle” actions taken during the processes of production, distribution, and consumption. In the chapter, we trace CE policy evolution journey, and zoom in policy contents by concentrating on policy prototypes, objectives, and instruments, and then briefly analyze policy impacts. To have a clear image of policy implementation, we take CE in industrial parks as an example and depict the process from policy to coordination and finally to practices in industrial parks. The challenges and opportunities are summarized. The overall CE policy evolution underwent five phases of emergence of local initiatives, the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) as the Policy Pioneer, proactive actions of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and rapid CE dissemination, legal promotion and institutionalization, and CE as a cornerstone toward net-zero emissions. CE policy in China manifested the following features. First, four policy prototypes, i.e., resource-oriented, production-oriented, waste policies, and use-oriented and life cycle policies, gradually evolved toward a comprehensive policy making of CE. Second, a range of policy objectives were formulated, enabling CE to be integrated into various policy fields and heated policy issues, thereby ensuring its ongoing viability. Third, it manifested a transition from motivating stakeholders by financial incentives in the initial phases to steering them by laws and regulations in the latter phases. Fourth, the policy impacts in terms of productivity and circularity increased significantly across phases. Nevertheless, a strong governance system, CE industry and innovation, integrating social benefits and enhancing mindsets toward a recycling society need to be embraced in order to create synergy between CE and the goal of Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality in China.