The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the importance of a comparative approach in environmental protection. More specifically, it shows the impact of legal culture on the effectiveness of environmental protection law. As the task is broad, environmental protection in Chinese and European contexts is specifically analyzed as an example. Three elements stand out at the study of these areas from a comparative perspective. First of all, the role of law in regulating life in society; secondly the way society considers natural elements; and finally, the integration of international rules in each legal order. This paper establishes that values and traditions hidden in environmental governances need to be deeply studied before launching any renewal of international environmental law. If law is an essential tool to environmental protection, one needs to renew the method(s). Indeed, a unique global legislation applied to a diversity of legal cultures, as well as international conventions based on Western conception of nature, may not be relevant. The comparison between EU and Chinese environmental laws reveals indicators of this tendency.