China's Energy transformation in the New era

Outline: 

China's energy transformation in the new era, emphasizing the importance of green, low-carbon, and sustainable development. Key points include:

1. Energy Transformation Necessity: China's energy transition is driven by the need to overcome resource and environmental constraints, achieve carbon neutrality, and promote high-quality economic and social development.

2. Principles of Transformation:

    -People-Centric: Ensuring clean and reliable energy for better living standards.

    -Green and Low-Carbon: Prioritizing energy efficiency and renewable energy.

    -National Conditions: Enhancing energy independence and security.

    -Innovation-Driven: Fostering technological advancements and market reforms.

    -Open Cooperation: Engaging in international energy cooperation and global governanceAchievements:

           a. Clean Energy Growth: Significant increases in clean energy consumption and installed capacity.

           b. Economic Development: Strong support for economic growth and industrial upgrades.

           c. Social Benefits: Improved energy access and reduced poverty.

           d. Environmental Protection: Reduced pollution and improved air quality.

           e. Global Contribution: Leading in clean energy investment and technology sharing, contributing to global climate change efforts.

Overall, China's strategic approach and notable successes in energy transformation, aligning with global trends and responsibilities.

Text:

In today's world, a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation is deepening, and green, low-carbon, digital intelligence, and sustainable development have become the themes of The Times. As countries differ in economic development stage and resource endowment, how to balance secure and stable energy supply and green and low-carbon transition is both a common goal and a challenge. China has put forward a new energy security strategy and achieved remarkable results in promoting energy transition, answering the questions of the world and The Times, and demonstrating China's governance and responsibility as a major country.

(1) Energy transformation is the only way

The development and utilization of energy is an important aspect of the interaction between man and nature. Throughout the history of human society, every major progress in human civilization is often accompanied by changes in the way of energy development and utilization and the replacement of main energy sources.

After a long period of development, China has established a comprehensive energy supply system for coal, oil, gas, nuclear, water, wind and light, providing a strong driving force for sustained and rapid economic and social development. At present, China is embarking on a new journey to comprehensively build a modern socialist country, putting forward new requirements for high-quality energy development. China is the largest developing country in the world, but its per capita energy use level is not high, industrialization and urbanization have not yet been completed, and energy demand will continue to grow for some time to come. The industrial structure is heavy, the energy structure is coal, and the resource and environment constraints have existed for a long time. To address these difficulties and challenges, energy transformation is essential.

China's energy transition focuses on accelerating the transformation of the mode of energy development, changing the driving force of energy development, and promoting the replacement of main energy sources from fossil fuels to non-fossil fuels. This is an urgent need to break the resource and environmental constraints and achieve the goal of carbon neutrality. It is an urgent need to seize the opportunity of a new round of technological and industrial transformation and accelerate the cultivation of new quality productivity. It is an urgent need to promote the formation of green production mode and lifestyle and achieve high-quality economic and social development; It is an urgent need to assume the responsibilities of a major country and promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind. China's energy transformation is not what others ask of us, but what we need to do ourselves. It's not that we can, it's that we must.

(2) Unswervingly accelerate energy transformation

In line with the general trend of global energy development, China has firmly implemented the new strategy for energy security, focused on promoting harmonious coexistence between man and nature and creating a new form of human civilization. China has gradually shifted its energy development mode from resource-dependent to innovation-driven, and embarked on a path of energy transformation that suits China's national conditions and meets the requirements of The Times. China's energy transformation adheres to the following principles:

-- Putting the people first. Energy is closely related to people's lives. Adhering to the philosophy of people-centered development, China continues to improve the level of universal energy services for the whole society, provides clean and reliable energy security to better meet the people's needs for a better life, and constantly enhances the people's sense of gain, happiness and security.

-- Green and low-carbon. Energy transformation is the key to clean water and green mountains, as well as gold and silver mountains. We will adhere to the path of green and low-carbon development that gives priority to ecology, strive to promote harmonious coexistence between man and nature, and make energy transformation an important goal of economic and social development. We will give top priority to conserving energy and resources, implement a comprehensive conservation strategy, make full use of one gram of coal, one drop of oil, and one kilowatt hour of electricity, and constantly improve energy efficiency. With a green and low-carbon orientation, vigorously implement the replacement of renewable energy, and accelerate the construction of an energy supply system based on non-fossil energy.

-- Basing ourselves on national conditions. Energy rice bowls must be in their own hands, based on domestic efforts to enhance energy independence. The gradual withdrawal of traditional energy sources must be based on the safe and reliable replacement of new energy sources, strengthen the construction of the energy production, supply, storage and marketing system, make up for weaknesses in energy reserve regulation, give play to the role of fossil energy as a backstop, and effectively respond to energy security risks and challenges.

-- Leading through innovation. Innovation is the "golden key" to open the door of energy transformation. We will accelerate the implementation of the strategy of innovation-driven development, strengthen research in key and core technologies, accelerate innovation in energy technologies, industries, and business models, promote new energy technologies and related industries to become new growth points driving industrial upgrading, and foster and strengthen new quality productivity. We will deepen market-oriented energy reform, give full play to the decisive role of the market in resource allocation, better play the role of the government, and stimulate the vitality of various business entities.

-- Pursuing openness and cooperation. To promote sustainable development and address climate change is a common challenge facing mankind. Uphold the vision of a community with a shared future for mankind, expand high-level opening-up in the energy sector, strengthen international energy cooperation in all aspects, and build a new win-win model of green, low-carbon energy transformation. We will deeply participate in the reform of global energy governance and promote the establishment of a fair, just, balanced and inclusive global energy governance system.

3. Remarkable achievements have been made in China's energy transition

Over the past decade, under the guidance of the new strategy for energy security, China has reformed its energy production and consumption patterns, comprehensively improved its energy supply capacity, and achieved historic breakthroughs in green and low-carbon energy development. This has effectively guaranteed high-quality economic and social development, better met the people's growing needs for a better life, and effectively supported the construction of a beautiful China.

China's energy transformation has put the development of clean energy on a fast track. In 2023, the proportion of clean energy consumption will reach 26.4%, an increase of 10.9 percentage points over 2013, and the proportion of coal consumption will decrease by 12.1 percentage points. The total installed power generation capacity reached 2.92 billion kilowatts, of which the installed power generation capacity of clean energy reached 1.7 billion kilowatts, accounting for 58.2% of the total installed power generation capacity. Clean energy generated about 3.8 trillion KWH of electricity, accounting for 39.7% of the total power generation, an increase of about 15 percentage points over 2013. Over the past decade, new clean energy power generation has accounted for more than half of the increase in electricity consumption in the whole society, and the amount of "green" energy in China has continued to increase.

China's energy transition supports high-quality economic and social development. The energy rice bowl is getting stronger and stronger, and the primary energy production capacity has increased by 35% in ten years, which has strongly supported the steady and healthy development of China's economy. In the past ten years, the investment in fixed assets in the energy sector has accumulated about 39 trillion yuan, which has significantly boosted the investment growth of the upstream and downstream industrial chain and related industries. A series of major energy projects have been completed and put into operation, a complete energy equipment manufacturing industry chain has been established, and technological innovation in new energy, hydropower, nuclear power, power transmission and transformation, and new types of energy storage have accelerated, making the clean energy industry a new pillar of the modern industrial system.

China's energy transformation will meet the people's needs for a better life. Over the past decade, energy supply and demand have remained in balance, energy prices have remained stable on the whole, and energy security for more than 1.4 billion people has been effectively guaranteed. The country's per capita domestic electricity consumption has doubled from about 500 KWH to nearly 1,000 KWH, and the number of natural gas users has reached 560 million, rising to 12th place in the "access to electricity" index of the World Bank's Global Assessment of Doing Business. The energy industry has comprehensively contributed to poverty alleviation and rural revitalization. The total investment in the central budget for the renovation and upgrading of rural power grids exceeded 100 billion yuan, driving local governments and enterprises to increase capital investment, and historically solved the problem of electricity consumption of the national population without electricity in 2015. The scale of household photovoltaic in rural areas has reached 120 million kilowatts, involving more than 5.5 million households, which can increase farmers' income by 11 billion yuan per year and create about 2 million jobs. By the end of 2023, the clean heating rate in the northern region was nearly 80%, and the national charging infrastructure increased from less than 100,000 units to nearly 8.6 million units.

China's energy transition is advancing in tandem with high-level protection of the ecological environment. In the past ten years, the average coal consumption of coal power supply has dropped to 303 grams of standard coal/KWH, and the emission level of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide of advanced units is comparable to the limit value of natural gas generating units. From 2013 to 2023, energy consumption per unit of GDP will drop by more than 26 percent. The quality of refined oil products has been continuously upgraded, and the quality of refined oil products has reached the world advanced level. Coal-fired boilers across the country have been reduced by more than 80%, and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and surrounding areas as well as the Fen-Wei Plain have basically completed the replacement of bulk coal for winter heating in the plain. The green intensive development of energy resources has been realized, the green development technology has been widely applied, and the ecological environment of mines has been significantly improved. Promote the new model of "photovoltaic +" ecological restoration in deserts, Gobi, deserts and coal mining subsidence areas. The average PM2.5 concentration has decreased by 54%, and the number of heavy pollution days has decreased by 83%, effectively supporting the construction of a beautiful China.

China's energy transformation is an important contribution to global energy transformation and the building of a clean and beautiful world. In 2023, China's energy transformation investment will reach 676 billion US dollars, making it the world's largest energy transformation investment country. Over the past decade, China has provided high-quality clean energy products and services to the world, continued to increase scientific and technological innovation, constantly promoted the rapid iteration of new energy technologies, and effectively contributed to the significant reduction of global wind power and photovoltaic costs. China has continued to expand opening-up and cooperation, and carried out cooperation on green energy projects with more than 100 countries and regions. A large number of landmark projects such as nuclear power, hydropower and new energy have been completed and put into operation successively. By 2023, the export of wind power photovoltaic products will help other countries reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 810 million tons. China's new energy industry has not only enriched global supply, alleviated global inflationary pressure, but also made outstanding contributions to the global response to climate change and green transformation.