Editing Ministry of Ecology and Environment (section)

==History==
In 1972, Chinese representatives attended the First [[United Nations Conference on the Human Environment]], held in [[Sweden]]. The next year, 1973, saw the establishment of the Environmental Protection Leadership Group. In 1983, the Chinese government announced that environmental protection would become a state policy. In 1998, China went through a disastrous year of serious flooding, and the Chinese government upgraded the Leading Group to a ministry-level agency, which then became the State Environmental Protection Administration.{{citation needed|date=October 2023}}

In March 2008, the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) was established, replacing the State Environmental Protection Administration.{{citation needed|date=October 2023}}

During 2016–2017, the MEP temporarily shut down approximately 40% of all Chinese factories as part of an environmental protection campaign.<ref name=":9223">{{Cite book |last=Ding |first=Iza |title=Greening East Asia: The Rise of the Eco-Developmental State |date=2020 |publisher=[[University of Washington Press]] |isbn=978-0-295-74791-0 |editor-last=Esarey |editor-first=Ashley |location=Seattle |chapter=Pollution Emissions Trading in China |jstor=j.ctv19rs1b2 |editor-last2=Haddad |editor-first2=Mary Alice |editor-last3=Lewis |editor-first3=Joanna I. |editor-last4=Harrell |editor-first4=Stevan}}</ref>{{Rp|page=90}}

Pollutant trading programs were administered under the MEP and local Environmental Protection Bureaus until 2018.<ref name=":9223"/>{{Rp|page=78}}

In 2018, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) was established as part of the [[deepening the reform of the Party and state institutions]],<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Lewis |first=Joanna I. |title=Cooperating for the Climate: Learning from International Partnerships in China's Clean Energy Sector |date=2023 |publisher=The [[MIT Press]] |isbn=978-0-262-54482-5 |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts}}</ref>{{Rp|page=95}} replacing the MEP.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2008-03-11/152315124637.shtml |title = 华建敏：组建环境保护部加大环境保护力度_新闻中心_新浪网 |publisher=[[Sina Corp]] |access-date=2013-02-12 }}</ref> A number of environmental policy functions were merged from other ministries into the MEE, including climate policy previously under the [[National Development and Reform Commission]] (NDRC) and a number of environmental policy functions previously under the [[Ministry of Water Resources of the People's Republic of China|Ministry of Water Resources]] and the [[State Oceanic Administration]].<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=95}} Pollutant and carbon emissions trading programs, which had previously been under the MEP's jurisdiction, were also placed within the MEE's control.<ref name=":9223"/>{{Rp|page=78}}

In 2019, the MEE established the [[Belt and Road Initiative|BRI]] International Green Development Coalition as a joint project with the environmental agencies of twenty-five other countries.<ref name=":32">{{Cite book |last1=Shinn |first1=David H. |title=China's Relations with Africa: a New Era of Strategic Engagement |last2=Eisenman |first2=Joshua |date=2023 |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |isbn=978-0-231-21001-0 |location=New York |author-link=David H. Shinn}}</ref>{{Rp|page=60}}