The General Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council jointly issued a reform plan for the ecological and environmental damage compensation system recently.

In 2015, the central government launched a pilot program of the damage compensation system in seven provinces and cities including Jiangsu and Hunan provinces, which has made remarkable progress. Now the ecological and environmental damage compensation system will be rolled out nationwide on Jan 1.

Under the system, individuals or companies that cause environmental damage should not only bear administrative and criminal responsibility, but will also be held responsible for repairing the damage they cause to the environment and paying compensation for any ecological or environmental loss they cause. The compensation will be collected by local governments as a kind of non-tax revenue.

According to the plan, China aims to establish an efficient comprehensive damage compensation system to protect and improve the country's ecosystems and environment by 2020.

The system does not apply to marine ecological and environmental damages, which are governed by the Marine Environment Protection Law.