The Shanghai People's Congress (SPC) has approved two regulations, both set to take effect on September 1, aimed at strengthening the city's commitment to ecological civilization and sustainable development.

The SPC is the city's legislative body.

The Standing Committee of the 16th SPC passed the "Decision on Deepening Ecological Civilization Construction and Building Shanghai as a Model of Beautiful China" on Thursday.

The decision covers five key areas: optimizing spatial layout, promoting green and low-carbon development, strengthening pollution control, improving ecological environment quality, and ensuring ecological security.

It also calls for stronger supervision of environmental protection efforts and encourages public participation. For example, it promotes green, low-carbon lifestyle and consumption, such as the "Clean Plate Campaign" that aims at reducing food waste, restricts the use of disposable plastics, and promotes recyclable and biodegradable alternatives.

The new decision doesn't replace existing environmental laws, said Lin Haiping, deputy director of the SPC's Urban Construction and Environmental Protection Committee. Instead, it updates and strengthens them to work better together.

The "Shanghai Food Security Guarantee Regulations" focus on key areas like food production, storage, distribution, processing, emergency response, and conservation, according to Cui Kai, deputy director of the Legislative Affairs Office of the SPC Standing Committee.

A key focus of the regulations is to support the grain industry's development. This includes improving the industry's structure, encouraging the use of new technologies like information technology (IT), biotechnology, and low-carbon methods.

The regulations also strengthen protection of geographical indications and trademarks to help build strong, reputable grain brands with high quality.