China Passes New Energy Law

Chinese lawmakers on November 8, 2024 passed the country’s first energy law, which will take effect on January 1, 2025. The law is designed to boost high-quality energy development, ensure national energy security, and promote green and low-carbon transition.

China has long lacked a fundamental and overarching energy law. The introduction of the energy law will fill this legislative gap, significantly strengthening the legal foundation in the energy sector, ensuring national energy security and promoting green and low-carbon transformation.

The law includes nine sections, covering stipulations on energy planning, development and utilization, energy market systems, energy reserves and emergency measures, energy technology innovation, supervision and management, legal responsibilities, supplementary provisions, etc. (See lighlights. listed below).

Wang Peng, a professor from the North China Electric Power University, said the energy law will enhance the internal drive for green consumption.

“It sets clear goals for green energy development and specifies responsibilities of entities involved. It also makes clearer the requirements on various types of renewable energy development including hydropower, wind energy, solar energy, etc,” Wang said.

“For instance, in the development and utilization of wind and solar energy, the law requires a combination of centralized and distributed systems and lays a legal foundation for distributed power trading, microgrids and other business models,” he said.

Wang said the new energy law also strengthens the institutional support for green energy consumption, as article 34 calls for the establishment of mechanisms using ways such as the green electricity certificates to promote green energy consumption.

Source: China Daily, Nov 9, 2024. https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/…/WS672ec1f8a310f1265a1cc…

Highlights: Energy Law of People’s Republic of China

Article 1: In order to promote the high-quality development of energy, ensure national energy security, promote the green and low-carbon transformation and sustainable development of the economy and society, actively and steadily promote carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, and adapt to the needs of building a modern socialist country in an all-round way, this law is formulated in accordance with the Constitution.
Article 22: The state supports the priority development and utilization of renewable energy, the rational development, clean and efficient use of fossil energy, the promotion of the safe, reliable and orderly replacement of fossil energy by non-fossil energy, and the increase of the proportion of non-fossil energy consumption.
Article 27: The State shall actively develop nuclear power in a safe and orderly manner.
Article 28: The state optimizes the layout and industrial structure of coal development, encourages the development of circular economy in coal mining areas, optimizes the structure of coal consumption, promotes the clean and efficient utilization of coal, and gives full play to the basic guarantee and systematic regulation role of coal in the energy supply system.
Article 29: The State shall take a variety of measures to increase the exploration and development of oil and natural gas resources and enhance the domestic supply guarantee capacity of oil and natural gas. The development of oil and natural gas adheres to the equal importance of land and sea, and encourages the large-scale development of dense oil and gas, shale oil, shale gas, coal seam gas and other unconventional oil and gas resources.
Article 30: The State shall promote the clean and efficient development of coal-fired power generation, reasonably arrange the construction of coal-fired power generation according to the needs of stable operation of the power system and power supply guarantee, and improve the regulation capacity of coal-fired power generation.
Article 57: The State encourages and supports the research, development and demonstration of basic, critical and cutting-edge major technologies, equipment and related new materials in the fields of energy resource exploration and development, clean and efficient utilization of fossil energy, renewable energy development and utilization, nuclear energy safe use, hydrogen energy development and utilization, energy storage, energy conservation and other fields.
Article 76:The management of energy development and utilization of the army shall be implemented in accordance with the relevant provisions of the state and the army. If the state has other provisions on the development and utilization of nuclear energy, its provisions shall apply.
Article 77: If an international treaty relating to energy concluded or participated in by the People’s Republic of China has different provisions from this Law, the provisions of international treaties shall apply, except for the provisions declared by the People’s Republic of China.
Article 80: This Law shall come into force on January 1, 2025.