Chinese Legislature Tightens Environmental Laws to Punish Polluters, Clean Up Air, Soil

China’s legislature passed the biggest changes to its environmental protection laws in 25 years, which would punish polluters more severely as the government works to limit smog and tainted soil associated with three decades of economic growth.

Amendments to the law “sets environmental protection as the country’s basic policy,” the official Xinhua News Agency reported April 24. The rules hadn’t been changed since the law was first enacted in 1989, just as China started consuming more energy as it turned into a global manufacturing hub.

Now the world’s biggest carbon emitter, China has moved to address the environmental damage that ...