Abstract: Since the establishment of the ecological environment zoning and control system, China's macro-level management of pollution source prevention has been further strengthened, while the issue of overlapping regulations between zoning controls and systems such as environmental impact assessments and pollutant discharge permits has become increasingly prominent. Under the context of modernizing the environmental governance system and capabilities, environmental access guidelines that guide enterprises to proactively comply with environmental requirements have emerged as a key tool for strengthening macro-management and simplifying micro-management.  This study employs a systematic comparative analysis approach to examine the similarities and differences between environmental access guidelines and environmental access. It analyzes the functional positioning of environmental access guidelines, as well as their non-mandatory guidance rules and project-wide pollution prevention and control guidance. The research establishes a three-dimensional indicator system encompassing source prevention, process control, and post-event supervision, along with an overall framework for environmental access guidelines application—"three-dimensional objectives and needs—diverse guideline content—varied guidance methods—multi-dimensional application scenarios." This provides theoretical and methodological guidance for constructing environmental access guidelines.  Demonstration applications were conducted in the automotive manufacturing industry (C36) within a pilot park in the Yangtze River Delta region. Results indicate that the environmental access guidelines and application system effectively guided pollution prevention and control for construction projects in the industry before, during, and after implementation. They provided clear direction for the site selection of three pilot exempted environmental impact assessment projects, the implementation of environmental requirements during production processes, and post-event supervision by environmental authorities. The guidelines fulfilled the function of "strong measures and risk control" in project environmental assessments, offering robust support for safeguarding pollution prevention and control.