Framework and function of “Three Lines and One Permit”: A preemptive and integrated policy for the environmental impact assessment system in China

In China, environmental impact assessment (EIA) has evolved with practice. Despite revising its laws and guidelines, the EIA system in China continues to encounter several challenges. Especially, EIA has been entrapped by politics in the neoliberal context. The Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China announced a preemptive and integrated policy entitled, “Three Lines and One Permit” (TLOP), hoping to achieve several positive changes taking advantage of centralized politics. Detailed studies on the framework and function of this policy for enhancing the EIA system are scarce. To fill this research gap, the current study highlights the efforts made by authorities and the challenges that have existed in the EIA system before TLOP. Further, it presents the development process of TLOP, as well as content including the red line for ecological conservation, the bottom line for environmental quality, the upper-limit line for resource use, and the list of environmental permits. Next, it analyzes the function of TLOP in the EIA system encompassing the control of disorderly expansion of planning, arbitrary approval of projects, and cost-saving. However, TLOP could be limited by lack of clarity in response to climate change and mismatch of technical guidance for specific regions. Therefore, we recommend deep considering climate change and also refining the guidelines in the future.