A few years ago, the first environmental courts were established in China. According to recent estimates, approximately 450 environmental courts were instituted after initial difficulties. This development fits in with China’s efforts to improve its environmental legal protection system. Since neither ‘legal protection’ nor ‘environmental law’ is perceived as a specific of China, this is likely to come as a surprise. Indeed, in recent years and not least by the reform of the Environmental Protection Act in 2014, environmental law has become a pioneering discipline of Chinese law. It plays a key role for its development and the construction of legal innovations. The environmental courts are an important component of these comprehensive reform efforts. This study examines the environmental courts’ emergence, its institutional varieties and effects.