Established on December 31, 1978, the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences (CRAES) is a non-profit research institution of ecology and environment, affiliated to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) of China. It is dedicated to conducting basic, overarching, and strategic ecological and environmental scientific research; research on ecological and environmental development strategies and technological policies; and basic theoretical and cutting-edge technological research on major national ecological and environmental issues, all aligned with the national strategic layout for ecological civilization construction, providing comprehensive scientific and technological support for national ecological and environmental management.

Currently, it has a staff of over 1,200, including 5 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and 50 individuals with national-level talent titles; 208 with senior professional technical titles, 398 with associate senior professional technical titles, and 586 with doctoral degrees or above.

It has 18 major research directions and 9 national-level research platforms, basically covering all fields of ecological and environmental protection (excluding nuclear safety), forming a relatively comprehensive disciplinary system with a strong research foundation and comprehensive disciplinary advantages. It has the only graduate school within the MEE, with 1 doctoral professional degree program, 6 master's academic degree programs, and 1 master's professional degree program, currently enrolling over 1,000 graduate students.