Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macau to organize 2026 event

Friday, June 6, 2025

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The 2025 National Environment Day National Main Event took place in Chongqing yesterday, featuring the announcement that Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macau will jointly host the 2026 National Environment Day National Event. At the handover ceremony, a representative from the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) passed the event flag to government officials from the three regions, marking the start of preparations for the upcoming event.

The annual National Environment Day event, observed every year on June 5, is organized by the MEE in a different Chinese city each year. This year’s event in Chongqing highlighted the progress of “Beautiful China Pilot Zones” and encouraged public participation in building a “beautiful China”. The Central Office of Spiritual Civilization Construction and the Chongqing Municipal People’s Government co-organized the 2025 event.

In recent years, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and the Central Office for the Construction of Spiritual Civilization have collaborated with local governments to organize national events for World Environment Day.

The MEE states, these events serve as key platforms for promoting ecological awareness, studying and implementing President Xi Jinping’s ecological civilization thoughts, showcasing regional achievements in building a beautiful China, and mobilizing societal participation in ecological civilization practices.

Representatives from Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macau released statements that hosting the 2026 event demonstrates their commitment to President Xi Jinping’s ecological civilization vision and offers a window to promote a world-class bay area. They also emphasized their dedication to learning from previous host cities, collaborating closely, planning meticulously, and striving to make the 2026 World Environment Day National Main Event distinctive and high-level.

The Environmental Protection Bureau (DSPA) released a similar statement yesterday regarding the event, stating, “it [the event] serves as serving as a key platform for promoting ecological awareness, studying and implementing President Xi Jinping’s thoughts on ecological civilization”.

Key Takeaways

In 2024, 87.2% of days in 339 prefecture-level cities recorded excellent or good air quality, marking a 1.7 percentage point increase from 2023.

Freshwater Environment – Sections of surface water meeting Grade I to III quality reached 90.4% in 2024, up 1.0 percentage point from the previous year. Groundwater quality remained stable, with 77.9% of monitoring sites meeting Grade I to IV standards.

Marine Environment – China’s jurisdictional sea areas maintained stable water quality in 2024, with 97.7% meeting Grade I seawater quality standards.

Soil Environment – Heavy metal contamination decreased at key-risk soil monitoring sites, indicating an initial halt to rising soil pollution. The safe utilization rate of polluted agricultural land improved to 92%.

Natural and Ecological Environment – The overall ecological condition remained stable, with the Ecological Quality Index (EQI) at 59.95, corresponding to a Grade II classification for ecological quality.

The DSPA further states, the event serves as a platform to showcase regional achievements in building a “beautiful China” and mobilizing societal participation in ecological civilization practice.

By hosting the event, the three regions aim to deepen cooperation and exchanges in ecological environment protection, as well as provide robust ecological and environmental support for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area (GBA).

In recent years, China has reported steady improvement across various ecological and environmental indicators in 2024. The newly released 2024 Report on the State of the Ecology and Environment in China highlighted significant progress being made by the country.

The total number days with good air quality rose to 87.2%, up 4.1 percentage points from 2016. Water quality also improved according to the report.

For the first time, over 90% of monitored surface water sections met or exceeded Grade III, while the share of water below Grade V declined. The MEE report states, “Grade III standard of water could be used for Class II drinking water source protected areas, fish and shrimp wintering grounds, migration channels, aquaculture areas and swimming sites.”

The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers maintained Grade II water quality for five and three consecutive years, respectively. Drinking water compliance reached 96% in prefecture-level cities and 93.7% in county-level towns. Seawater quality remained stable, with over 80% of nearshore waters meeting good standards.

China’s overall ecological quality index stood at 59.95 in 2024, classified as Grade II, reflecting good ecological health with rich biodiversity and intact ecosystems. The index has remained in this “good” range since 2021, according to the MEE report. By Nadia Shaw, MDT