《民法典》中环境污染和生态破坏责任的亮点

Highlights of Liability for Environmental Pollution and Ecological Damage in the Civil Code

《民法典》关于环境污染和生态破坏责任的规定体现了《民法典》的保护范围不再限于私益,而是向公益保护转变。与此同时,侵权责任编也为环境公益诉讼提供了制度的基础。通过设立惩罚性赔偿的规则实现了由赔偿向预防的转化,并通过对制止与防止损害发生或扩大的费用的赔偿和预防性责任,强化其预防作用。《民法典》侵权责任编关于生态环境修复责任的规定,成为确保环境污染破坏得到恢复的手段,通过责任承担方式的创新实现了保护环境、维护生态的立法目的。

The provisions of the Civil Code of the People’s Republic of China on environmental pollution andecological damage responsibilities is no longer limited to private interests, but a shift to public welfareprotection. At the same time, tort chapter within the Civil Code also provides a foundation for environmen⁃tal public interest litigation. Through the establishment of punitive damages rules, the conversion fromcompensation to prevention can be realized, and the compensation for the costs of preventing and prevent⁃ing damages from occurring or expanding can play a certain preventive role. The Civil Code’s Tort provi⁃sions on the responsibility for restoration of the ecological environment have become a means to ensurethe restoration of environmental pollution damage, and the legislative purpose of protecting the environ⁃ment and maintaining the ecology has been realized through the innovation of the responsibility assump⁃tion.