China’s 2 Goals, 4 Directives & 8 Actions to Prep for a New Era of “Water B”
By CWR 20 March, 2026
We dived deep into the 15FYP, countless speeches & opinions to distill key takeaways for China's Water Outlook for the next 5 years – water will be key to a Beautiful China & national security
It’s always hard to look for water at the start of the 15FYP but we will make a bold call now … that there will be multiple more detailed 15FYPs issued for water – from water security to water resilience – for 2026-2030. These will be necessary to ensure China has water for growth & development as well as food & energy for the next 5 years despite escalating climate & water risks.
The 15FYP has a strong resilience thematic and signals that China is taking action to ensure that it can endure an increasingly erratic water cycle & rising water scarcity. This is timely as the UN sounded the alarm, declaring “global water bankruptcy” in January 2026. We’ve irreversibly exhausted many critical water systems to the point that they’ll never be replenished to historic baselines – we overspent our annual renewable water “income” from rivers, soil, and snowpack, plus we’ve depleted long-term “savings” in aquifers, glaciers, wetlands, and other natural reservoirs.
The shifting waterscape to a “Water B” could stymie China’s economic growth, food & energy production and threaten national security & stability. Naturally, China will work resolutely to take all-out action to “save water” to ensure stability.
We have pored through the “mothership” 15FYP (just passed in this Two Sessions) as well as multiple guiding opinions & plans, major tasks, and news announcements during the Two Sessions and throughout 2025 and distilled China’s resolute efforts & plans for the 5 years into: 2 Goals, 4 Directives and 8 Actions …
2 Goals of a Beautiful China & National Security:
Remember, the 15FYP is all about advancing faster and becoming self-reliant faster. But this must be done without sacrificing the vision of a Beautiful China AND national security and stability must be maintained always.
So, water in the 15FYP has 2 Goals …
- Water is key in achieving a Beautiful China – as Premier Li reports for 2025: “Efforts to conserve major rivers and important lakes and reservoirs were intensified, and the share of surface water with a good quality rating reached 91.4 percent. Initiatives were launched to build pilot zones under the Beautiful China Initiative”.
“Major tasks” going forward include black malodorous water bodies to be cleaned up as part of the “fresh headway” to “be made in keeping our skies blue, waters clear, and lands clean”. Li also added that a “holistic and systematic approach to the conservation and improvement of mountain, water, forest, farmland, grassland, and desert ecosystems. We will integrate and optimize protected areas and continue to develop national parks”.
- Water is a key ingredient of national security – A major task under “We will safeguard national security and social stability” is “to make critical infrastructure intrinsically safer”. Clearly water is a critical infrastructure and here, Li singled out that “The development of a modern water network will be accelerated, and the support system for catastrophe insurance will be improved”.
The Premier also impressed that “Steps will be taken to strengthen the monitoring, forecasting, and early warning of meteorological, hydrological, and geological disasters, forest and grassland fires, and earthquakes” and pointed out that “weak links in flood prevention, drainage and disaster response” will be addressed in northern China.
4 Directive & 8 Actions will impact multiple sectors, business & finance
To achieve these 2 goals, China will step up action across 4 Directives with 8 Actions. While the 4 Directives will up water security & resilience, the 8 Actions have implications for multiple sectors, business & finance.
We deep dive into these 8 Actions and which directive they target in our new brief “China’s 15FYP Outlook for Water Security & Resiliency – 2 Goals, 4 Directives, 8 Actions to to Prep for a New Era of ‘Water B’”.
The brief highlights what has already been done and achieved in these 8 areas and provides a clear picture of the ambitions in each over the next 5 years. New investment opportunities that these policies will bring for the private sector are also laid out.
So, see how far China has come in the 14FYP and how much more it will do in the 15FYP for water … controlling water, decoupling water & growth, waternomics, watershed conservation, grand diversions, dams, sponge cities … it’s all there! Access the brief now.
Further readings
- First-ever 14FYP for Water Security – 8 Key Thoughts – China’s first-ever 14FYP for Water Security signals that it is well ahead in water adaptation & the IPCC’s “climate resilient development”. CWR’s Tan & Low share more key thoughts
- Vast River Diversion Plan Afoot In Western China – With the Yellow River facing water shortages by 2050, talk of a diversion project has resurfaced – but should water be diverted from the Upper Yangtze watershed? Chinadialogue’s Baiyu Gao explores
- Yangtze River: Actions Toward Ecological Compensation – Dr Dong from the Chinese Academy for Environmental Planning presents ways to design an Yangtze River specific eco-compensation mechanism
More on Latest
- 15FYP New Era of Self Reliance: More Water for National Security – China is building multi-front resiliency for stability. Our analysis of its 2026-2030 strategy finds water at the heart of its policies for economic, food & energy security
- Staying Resilient: Inspirations & Insights from Young Women Leaders in Water – Why join the water space? Hear from CWR’s past & present female staff reflect on their early career journeys & what keeps them going
- Building AI-Driven Sustainability Intelligence with Climind’s Karen Wang – The biggest challenge for climate startups isn’t building the tech but finding the right pain point to solve, shares entrepreneur Wang
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