| dc.description.abstract | In June 2014, at a conference of China’s Central Leading Group for Financial
and Economic Affairs Commission, General Secretary Xi Jinping launched
the idea that China should initiate an energy revolution. The revolution
would be comprehensive in scope. It would encompass demand, supply,
technology and the energy system itself, and it would strengthen international
cooperation and guide China’s energy reforms. As part of this reform process, the Development Research Center (DRC) of the State Council of China
and Shell International, building on their long-term collaboration, started a
joint research programme on China’s Energy Revolution in the Context
of the Global Energy Transition in late 2015.
The research focuses on how to promote China’s energy revolution by
reforming the energy system, bolstering innovation policy and motivating all
stakeholders, including government, industry, companies and citizens. Our
findings show that China will learn from international energy transition
experience and strive to improve and build a modern, high-quality energy
system. This will improve people’s living standards, help make China a
high-value manufacturer, protect the environment, and drive China’s economic development. In short, China will provide high-quality energy for
high-quality growth.
A high-quality energy system should have the following three features.
First, energy should be clean and low carbon. The entire energy life cycle—
from production and conversion to transmission and consumption—should
be low pollution with minimal emissions of harmful local pollutants and with
CO2 from energy production and consumption minimised. Second, energy
should be efficiently priced and affordable. China has not yet completed its
industrialisation process and is still in a critical period of upgrading the
manufacturing value chain. As energy is a key component of production and
circulation, the price of energy should be competitive internationally and
bolster Chinese manufacturing. Third, energy should be secure and reliable.
The energy system should guarantee basic and stable supply, even during
abnormal conditions like natural disasters or geopolitical tensions. It should
also be sufficiently flexible to integrate ever-increasing volumes of renewables in the energy mix. | |
