From action to legislation: challenges and enhancements of the regulatory frameworks concerning China’s blue carbon sink trading

IF 3 2区生物学 Q1 MARINE & FRESHWATER BIOLOGY

Frontiers in Marine Science Pub Date : 2026-04-27 DOI:10.3389/fmars.2026.1815655

Chuanliang Wang, Zhaoxin Liu, Aiping Wang

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

The Ecological Environment Code of the People’s Republic of China has incorporated ecosystem carbon sinks into the legal system, yet there remains a lack of specialized legislation for blue carbon sink trading, with obvious normative limitations in its supervision and management. This research mainly adopts a combined research method integrating normative analysis, legal doctrine analysis, and qualitative policy text analysis. It systematically reviews China’s existing laws and policies related to carbon sinks and analyzes the institutional status of blue carbon sink trading supervision and management from three dimensions: subject, content, and liability. The study identifies three core problems in the current supervision system: vague and nominal allocation of powers and responsibilities among regulatory subjects with prominent functional overlaps; missing and imbalanced transaction process rules lacking systematic planning; and a weak and formalistic accountability mechanism with unclear responsibility boundaries. To enhance the regulatory frameworks, at least three areas should be addressed: first, clarify the rules of regulatory entities, and build a complementary, professional and efficient supervision mechanism. Second, enhance rules of the regulatory bodies, along with rules for the declaration and registration of blue carbon sink projects. Finally, strengthen rules of legal liabilities for the supervision and management of blue carbon sink trading, clarifying the provisions on the legal liabilities of relevant entities, and enhancing the effectiveness of legal liability pursuit.

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从行动到立法：中国蓝色碳汇交易监管框架的挑战与完善

《中华人民共和国生态环境法》已将生态碳汇纳入法律体系，但蓝色碳汇交易还缺乏专门立法，在监督管理方面存在明显的规范性局限性。本研究主要采用规范分析、法律理论分析和定性政策文本分析相结合的研究方法。系统梳理了中国现行碳汇相关法律和政策，并从主体、内容、责任三个维度分析了蓝色碳汇交易监督管理的制度现状。研究发现，当前监管体制存在三大核心问题：监管主体之间权责分配模糊、有名无实，职能重叠突出；缺乏系统规划的交易流程规则缺失和不平衡；问责机制形式化，责任界限不清。加强监管框架，至少应从三个方面着手：一是明确监管主体规则，构建互补、专业、高效的监管机制。第二，加强监管机构的规则，以及蓝色碳汇项目的申报和登记规则。最后，强化蓝色碳汇交易监督管理的法律责任规则，明确相关主体的法律责任规定，提高法律责任追究的有效性。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Frontiers in Marine Science Agricultural and Biological Sciences-Aquatic Science

CiteScore

5.10

自引率

16.20%

发文量

2443

审稿时长

14 weeks

期刊介绍： Frontiers in Marine Science publishes rigorously peer-reviewed research that advances our understanding of all aspects of the environment, biology, ecosystem functioning and human interactions with the oceans. Field Chief Editor Carlos M. Duarte at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology Thuwal is supported by an outstanding Editorial Board of international researchers. This multidisciplinary open-access journal is at the forefront of disseminating and communicating scientific knowledge and impactful discoveries to researchers, academics, policy makers and the public worldwide. With the human population predicted to reach 9 billion people by 2050, it is clear that traditional land resources will not suffice to meet the demand for food or energy, required to support high-quality livelihoods. As a result, the oceans are emerging as a source of untapped assets, with new innovative industries, such as aquaculture, marine biotechnology, marine energy and deep-sea mining growing rapidly under a new era characterized by rapid growth of a blue, ocean-based economy. The sustainability of the blue economy is closely dependent on our knowledge about how to mitigate the impacts of the multiple pressures on the ocean ecosystem associated with the increased scale and diversification of industry operations in the ocean and global human pressures on the environment. Therefore, Frontiers in Marine Science particularly welcomes the communication of research outcomes addressing ocean-based solutions for the emerging challenges, including improved forecasting and observational capacities, understanding biodiversity and ecosystem problems, locally and globally, effective management strategies to maintain ocean health, and an improved capacity to sustainably derive resources from the oceans.