Abstract: Viewed from historical changes and inter-generational evolution of laws, the 50 years of China’s environmental legislation can be generalized as a development process from environmental law 1.0 to 3.0. At present, it is in the new era for entering the third generation of environmental law. With Law of Environmental Protection of 1989 as a typical representative, the first generation of environmental law, guided by the outlook of environmental protection, takes the right to survival as a core right, takes “end treatment” and “scattered protection” as a major adjustment mode, which is characterized by “two skins” for protection and development. With Circular Economy Promotion Law of 2008 as a typical representative, the second generation of environmental law, guided by the outlook of sustainable development, takes the right to development as a core right, attaches importance to esteem and compensation to development ability, adheres to full-process management from “cradle” to “tomb”, which is characterized by the integration of protection and development. With Yangtze River Protection Law of 2020 as a typical representative, the third generation of environmental law, guided by the outlook of ecological civilization, takes environmental right as a core right, takes multi-win of advanced production, nice life and ecological equilibrium as a fundamental target, takes high-quality development and high-level protection as a core assignment, and advocates the governance model of “sharing responsibility of the party and the government”, “one post with double responsibilities”, “society co-governance” and specialization of environmental judicature, which is characterized by systematic governance of “economy, politics, society, culture, environment, resources, and ecology”. The circle of environmental law should strengthen basic research on the theoretical interpretation and legal expression of Xi Jinping’s Thought on Ecological Civilization, identify its advancement and superiority to the ecological ethic thought and sustainable development thought of the West, provide effective intelligent support for promoting Xi Jinping’s Thought on Ecological Civilization to better guide the development of the third generation of environmental law and the promulgation of the environmental code, and contribute a Chinese program for promoting the evolution of the international environmental law. As to the legislation model of environmental codes, it is appropriate to adopt a general one.