Redirected from China's White Paper on Energy

China White Paper on Energy

China White Paper on Energy is the first public document released by the Chinese government that provides a comprehensive review of the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) energy development and energy policies. This is a key document because the demand for energy in the PRC continues to increase rapidly and is predicted to require 3.6 million barrel per day(bpd) of oil by 2010¹ playing a critical role in maintaining global energy security

The State Council Information Office of People’s Republic of PRC published PRC’s first White Paper on Energy: China’s Energy Conditions and Policies on December 26, 2007. It consists of eight chapters addressing the current status of China’s energy development, China’s strategy and goals of energy development, promotion of energy conservation programs, improvement of energy supply capacity, acceleration of energy technology development, coordination of energy and environment development, energy system reform and international cooperation.

The Paper’s recommendations, if adhered to, will guide China’s transformation to a more energy efficient society and its massive adoption of renewable energy. And, despite overall growth related increases in GHG emissions, will contribute to the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions.

Background

China’s White Paper on Energy was released as the world witnessed increasing oil prices. The PRC is a big oil importer. Turning into a net importer of oil in 1993, China is currently the second largest importer behind the United States. According to Chinese customs’ data, China imported 163 million tons of crude oil and 33.8 million tons of oil products in 2007 .² International Energy Agency's (IEA) International Energy Outlook 2007 projects a 3.% growth rate from 2004 to 2030 reaching 15.7 million barrel per day(bpd).

Even though China imports half of its oil from overseas, it managed to sustain its breath-taking economic development by mainly relying on its own energy resources. China’s energy independence rate is more than 90%, which is 20% higher than average OECD countries and 30% higher than the United States.³ Its energy self-dependence is mainly because of its abundant coal reserves. China’s coal production ranks No. 1 in the world. According to a Xinhua News resource, “ In 2005, the primary energy production in China was 2,061 Mtce, of which raw coal accounted for as high as 76.4 percent.”⁴ However, as a high carbon- emission energy resource, coal mines create huge environmental issues for China. Therefore, one of the goals of the White Paper is to steer China’s policies towards development of clean coal technologies and the adoption of renewable energy in order to address both energy security and environmental issues.

Summary

The White paper details that China’s national energy strategies emphasizing “Thrift, cleanness and safety” and demonstrates that the Chinese government is making every effort to achieve its energy goal “based on the principle of relying on domestic resources and the basic state policy of opening to the outside world”.⁵

Emphasizes conservation and energy efficiency

On the demand side, the Chinese government prioritizes energy conservation.

The Chinese government views energy conservation as a realistic way to alleviate its energy shortage pressure in a way that can be enacted in the long term. Thus the government made energy conservation a fundamental policy and promulgated the policy by encouraging local governments, businesses and individuals to play their respective role to conserve energy resources. To reach this goal, the government is aggressively pushing structural adjustments by introducing a “low input, low consumption, less emission and high efficiency economic development pattern. Practically, it launches energy-saving projects, pushes energy improvement projects in industries and advocates energy conservation in the whole society.⁶ The central government enforces this energy conservation policy at the local level to “incorporate energy consumption into the overall evaluation of economic and social development and the annual performance evaluation of regional governments”. ⁷

Improve domestic energy supply capacity

Other major government initiatives include support for coal mining research, exploring new resources, building large coal plants with an annual production capacity of 100 million tons, and encouraging “coal-electricity joint operation or coal-electricity-transport integrated management” to improve energy efficiency. ⁸ The government also intends to build cleaner coal-fired plants and set up large coal-fired powers to optimize the power supply.

Another prominent policy is to increase crude oil and natural gas production. The country will increase output in major oil and gas basins, such as Bohai Bay, Songliao, Tarim and Ordos as well as aggressively explore and open up new oil and gad fields

In addition to conventional energy resources, China is also vigorously promoting renewable energy. The government set the goal of reaching 10 percent of renewable energy consumption out of the total consumption by 2010 and 15% by 2020.
chery hybrid.jpg

Accelerate technology development

The Chinese government perceives technology as the key to energy conservation, energy development and related environmental problems. It is hoping to achieve energy independence through technology breakthroughs and gain sustainable energy development. The government is making efforts to establish market-oriented system for technological innovation by encouraging business to play a leading role and collaborate with universities and research institutions.

Strengthen international cooperation

The Chinese government has demonstrated its willingness to participate in international processes, taking more responsibility to maintain the stability of global market and to ensure environment protection. PRC has outlined its place as a major player in the international climate and energy negotiations process and argue “every country has the right to rationally utilize energy resources for its own development.”⁹

Critiques

Some skeptics have raised questions about the timing of the White Paper, particularly because of its timing when there had been some complains and concerns regarding China’s growing energy demand and its possible destablizing effect on international market. In this context, the White Paper might could be seen as a means to ease the external world’s anxieties, rather than being a practical plan for action.

As one official from National Development and Reform Committee (NDRC) answered a question from a reporter at a press conference, “With the rapid development of China’s economy and society, its demand for energy is growing fast, which draws great attention from the international world. Some people intentionally throw out ‘ China energy threat’ argument, which poses pressure for China to participate in international energy cooperation. In order to promote collaboration and reduce mistrust, it is necessary to introduce China’s energy status quo and polices in order to give the right direction to public opinion and refute ‘China energy threat’ argument”.¹⁰

There are also concerns with China’s relatively weak institutions, as well as the country's financial and technology constraints, which will seriously undermine the real implementation of the White Paper. Erica Downs of the Brookings Institution's Foreign Policy Studies discusses these topics in detail in her paper, "China's Quest for Energy Security."

Footnotes

1. EIA datebase.

2. Wang You, “Zhongguo haiguan: Shate Rengran Wei Woguo Diyida Shiyou Jinkou Laiyuan Guo”, (Chinese Custom: Saudi Arabia is the still the first largest oil exporting country to China), China Business News weekly, Jan. 25, 2008.

3. Office of Policy Studies at China's National Reform and Development Commission, Ma,Kai, Bo" Zhongguo Nengyuan Weixie Lun"(Refutting the China Energy Threat), 2008.

4. “Facts & figures: China's basic national circumstances of climate change”, People’s Daily Online, Jun. 04, 2007,

5. China's Information Office of State Council of the State Council , White Paper on Energy, Dec.2007.

6. China's Information Office of State Council of the State Council , White Paper on Energy, Dec.2007.

7. China's Information Office of State Council of the State Council , White Paper on Energy, Dec.2007.

8. China's Information Office of State Council of the State Council , White Paper on Energy, Dec.2007.

9. China's Information Office of State Council of the State Council , White Paper on Energy, Dec.2007.

10. China’s National Development and Reform Commission, Fagaiwei jiu Zhongguo de Nengyuan Zhuangkuang yu Zhengce Baipishu Wenda, (Press conference on China’s energy development and polices), Dec. 29, 2007,

Resources

Full content of China's White Paper on Energy can be found at China.org.cn.
Hu Angang, A New Approach at Copenhagen (parts one, two and three), April 2-4, 2009, chinadialogue.net. Accessed April 6, 2009. Hu proposes two new principles rather than classifying nations as either "developed" or "developing." which he writes do not reflect reality and prevents a fair agreement from being reached climate change. Hu proposes (1.) nations should first be assigned to one of four categories according to their Human Development Index (HDI) ranking, and that (2.) major greenhouse-gas emitters should be compelled to bear greater responsibility for reducing emissions. He calculates the reductions China should make and a “road map” for China.

Retrieved from "http://climatelab.org/China_White_Paper_on_Energy"