{"id":75340,"date":"2022-01-27T15:58:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-27T15:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chinadialogue.net\/?post_type=news_digest&#038;p=75340"},"modified":"2022-03-10T15:58:47","modified_gmt":"2022-03-10T15:58:47","slug":"china-to-loosen-energy-consumption-caps-and-focus-on-energy-intensity","status":"publish","type":"news_digest","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/digest\/china-to-loosen-energy-consumption-caps-and-focus-on-energy-intensity\/","title":{"rendered":"China to loosen energy consumption caps, and focus on energy intensity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Central government has made major revisions to its policy for controlling provinces\u2019 energy use. Consumption caps have been loosened and renewable energy will no longer count towards consumption totals.<br><br>The aim is to make the policy more flexible, so energy needs can be met and poorer provinces can catch up economically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The revisions have major implications for renewable energy development, coal-to-chemical facilities and equality between provinces, according to&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.gov.cn\/zhengce\/content\/2022-01\/24\/content_5670202.htm\">the action plan for energy conservation and emissions reduction (2021-2025)<\/a>&nbsp;released by the State Council on Monday.<br><br>The \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/energy\/can-controlling-energy-use-drive-chinas-green-transition-during-the-next-five-years\/\">dual controls<\/a>\u201d policy \u2013&nbsp;of controlling energy consumption and energy intensity (meaning energy used per unit of GDP) \u2013 has been a key driver of China\u2019s decarbonisation since its implementation in 2006.&nbsp;<br><br>Observers believe the revisions will have a mixed impact on China\u2019s emissions trajectory.<br><br>The discounting of renewable energy from consumption totals&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/stock.finance.sina.com.cn\/stock\/go.php\/vReport_Show\/kind\/lastest\/rptid\/696422660036\/index.phtml\">removes a key barrier<\/a>&nbsp;to developing renewables fast enough to reach carbon neutrality by 2060. Provinces can now consume green electricity knowing this won\u2019t affect their precious energy allowance.<br><br>Other exemptions may provide incentives that are less promising for the climate. Use of coal and oil as feedstocks for chemical processes, such as in coal-to-chemical facilities, will no longer figure in provinces\u2019 energy consumption or intensity calculations. Such processes mostly just change the form of the energy rather than consume it, the argument goes. But&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.engineering.org.cn\/ch\/article\/20151209001\">research<\/a>&nbsp;shows coal conversion still generates substantial emissions and is very water intensive. The exemption is considered&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/stock.finance.sina.com.cn\/stock\/go.php\/vReport_Show\/kind\/industry\/rptid\/696323695339\/index.phtml\">a boost to the coal-to-chemical industry<\/a>, whose coal use was previously kept on a tight leash by energy quotas.&nbsp;<br><br>Overall, the revisions make energy consumption caps less binding, while doubling down on energy intensity. Under the new rule, a province overachieving its GDP growth target will be allowed to go beyond its energy consumption cap \u201caccordingly\u201d, as long as it hits its energy intensity target. This will be a relief for poorer provinces, which felt rigid energy consumption caps limited their ability to catch up on economic growth.&nbsp;<br><br>China has committed to reducing the energy intensity of its economy by 13.5% between 2021 and 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Read China Dialogue\u2019s&nbsp;<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/energy\/can-controlling-energy-use-drive-chinas-green-transition-during-the-next-five-years\/\"><em>earlier article<\/em><\/a><em>&nbsp;on the dual controls policy for more.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Central government has made major revisions to its policy for controlling provinces\u2019 energy use. Consumption caps have been loosened and renewable energy will no longer count towards consumption totals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":75286,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_has_post_settings":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[757],"tags":[513,17073,580,585],"country":[],"digest-collection":[],"class_list":["post-75340","news_digest","type-news_digest","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","tag-carbon-emissions","tag-energy-transition","tag-policy","tag-renewables"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v26.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>China to loosen energy consumption caps, and focus on energy intensity | Dialogue Earth<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Central government has made major revisions to its policy for controlling provinces\u2019 energy use. 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