The Future of China’s Energy

As the world’s biggest energy-consuming and producing country, for a long time China’s energy consumption structure has relied mainly on coal. It helped secure China’s economic development, but also caused serious pollution problems. Now China’s economy is entering a “New Normal” stage with a lower growth rate, the industrial share of GDP is declining, and the services industry share is increasing. At the same time, China’s elderly population is growing, energy consumption growth is slowing down, and the competition among different energy sources is becoming intense. With the condition of easing supply and demand, China is setting energy structure optimization as a priority. The biggest change in China’s energy development in the future will be in energy structure, with the share of coal in primary energy consumption notably decreasing and the proportion of non-fossil fuels significantly increasing. In 2050, China’s non-fossil fuel share is expected to rise to more than 40%. The key to China’s future energy development lies in how to achieve the upgrading and high efficiency of the whole energy system, how to bring the market into full play, and how to finally achieve the requirements of the energy revolution.