On December 22, 2018, the annual China think tank governance forum was held in Nanjing. RIEL was successfully elected the 2018 annual top 100 university think tank (A class) and was the top 10 think tank on law and public security. The result of this selection is another major progress made after RIEL was selected into “China think tank index” (CTTI) source in 2017 and ranked among the top 100 in universities think tanks. Through this selection, the influence of RIEL’s construction of think tank has been significantly improved, which adds confidence to further development.

Since the establishment, RIEL has been serving the construction of environmental rule of law in China. For decades, RIEL has lived up to this purpose and played its role as a think tank. Teachers from RIEL participated in the drafting, consultation or argument of every national environmental resource legislation. Besides, RIEL closely tracks the development of international environmental law and provides reference opinions and materials for China’s environmental diplomacy, international environmental cooperation and the implementation of environmental treaties. Teachers from RIEL also frequently appear in the negotiations and diplomatic occasions of major international environmental conventions such as climate change, biodiversity and oceans.