This week’s big environmental story, January 27-2 February
Local governments across China have begun to set policy goals for 2023
in their local sessions, ahead of the “Two Sessions” in early March when the
central government will reveal its annual policy plans.
“Green” has been mentioned repeatedly in these local sessions, in which
governments summarise last year’s work and look ahead to the new year,
according to business news outlet 21jingji. More than half
of provinces mentioned reducing carbon emissions and environmental pollution.
Further details on implementing these reductions are yet to be revealed.
A number of governments have emphasised the green energy transformation.
Provinces from the south-east coastal region are planning to further develop
renewable energy and the accompanying storage. For instance, Guangdong and Zhejiang will keep
building offshore wind power and pumped storage, and accelerate battery storage
projects. Shanghai will build
offshore wind, distributed solar photovoltaics, as well as electric vehicle
charging and battery-swapping facilities.
While setting out energy transition strategies, some local governments have
stated the need to guarantee supplies of coal, oil and gas, to ensure energy
security. Especially in provinces that use a high proportion of fossil energy,
such as Shanxi and Hebei, governments have stressed “the clean and efficient
use of coal” – while also proposing to accelerate the energy structure
adjustment.
Meanwhile, Shaanxi proposed the construction of four coal mines to
ensure enough coal production and Xinjiang proposed to increase the exploration
and development of oil and gas resources.
During the 20th Party Congress last October, top-level speeches showed concerns for the
security of energy, food and supply chains. Following that, China’s central
economic working conference in December stressed that the
phaseout of fossil fuels should be based on “safe and reliable replacement by
renewable energy”.
(Sources: China Dialogue)
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