Digitalization's role in high-quality development highlighted at event

Digital tools can improve circular economy implementation by enhancing product and material information, life cycle traceability, compliance monitoring and aligning design with end-of-life management, thereby bridging longstanding coordination gaps in circular systems, according to a special policy report released at a forum in Beijing on Monday.

The report on advancing high-quality development through a circular economy with smart digitalization, unveiled at the 2026 annual general meeting of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development, said that digital tools can support higher-order circular strategies such as reduction, durability, repair, reuse and high-quality recycling, while cautioning against potential rebound effects and duplicated compliance costs.

It said that China is shifting from isolated pilots to systemic governance. Regulatory instruments — such as the Ecological and Environmental Code, the Action Plan for Comprehensive Treatment of Solid Waste, and the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) for circular economy development — indicate that the country is leveraging digital systems to support traceability, disclosure, certification and cross-departmental enforcement.

Li Gao, vice-minister of ecology and environment, also mentioned the newly enacted Ecological and Environmental Code, which provides a legal foundation for the circular economy with a dedicated chapter enshrining resource recycling and efficient utilization.

"In 2025, China's main resource productivity rose by about 77 percent from 2012, and the resource recycling industry was worth 5 trillion yuan ($745 billion)," Li said. He emphasized that digitalization must empower substantive environmental outcomes rather than just administrative procedures.

"We will step up the in-depth application of artificial intelligence, big data, the internet of things and blockchain in resource circulation, fully leveraging the enabling role of digital tools in areas such as solid waste identification, material-flow tracking and environmental benefit accounting," Li said.

Wang Peng, director-general of the department of energy conservation and comprehensive utilization at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, cited the power battery sector as a prime example of digital circular governance.

"As the new energy sector enters a phase of large-scale decommissioning, the volume of used battery recycling and utilization continues to grow. Standardized recycling and efficient utilization have become major issues concerning industrial safety, high-quality development, environmental protection and the safety of people's livelihoods and property," Wang said.

He mentioned a nationwide traceability information platform for power batteries, which had registered over 16,000 enterprises and collected more than 60 million battery records as of August. It has effectively guided end-of-life batteries into formal recycling channels, he added.

Wang emphasized that battery recycling and cross-border circulation require credible data and mutual trust, and that smart digital technologies are key to building interoperable systems that assist international trade and cooperation in recycled materials.

Per Angquist, director-general of the Swedish Chemicals Agency, said Sweden's experience shows that digital circular governance only works if material safety is treated as seriously as material flow.

"The pulp industry used to be one of our most energy-intensive sectors. Today, by recycling black liquor (effluent generated during pulp processing), it supplies bio-based electricity to the grid," Angquist said, noting that circularity creates competitiveness only when products are designed to be safe, traceable and reusable.

Ilka Hirt, deputy director-general for international policy at Germany's Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, compared digitalization and the circular economy to "two wings of a bird", saying that smart policy design can transform security, environmental protection and economic growth from an impossible triangle into "a triangle of hope".

"Standards must be established to align cross-border cooperation, ensure reliable data and assure interoperability," she said, emphasizing that the circular economy must not be treated as a narrow environmental issue but should be embedded in industrial, trade and digital strategies to create a level playing field.