The current situation, development aims and policy recommendation of China’s electric power industry

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCCSM-01-2023-0006
• Published date: 05 April 2023
• Date: 05 April 2023
• Pages: 282-299
• Subject Matter: Public policy & environmental management,Environmental issues,Climate change
• Author: Shan Chen,Yuandi Wang,Hongping Du,Zhiyu Cui

The current situation,

development aims and policy

recommendation of China’s

electric power industry

Shan Chen

Sichuan University, Chengdu, China

Yuandi Wang

School of Public Affairs, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China

Hongping Du

Student Affairs Department, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China, and

Zhiyu Cui

School of Economics and Management, Dalian University of Technology,

Dalian, China

Abstract

Purpose –Although the tasks of managing carbon peaks and achieving carbon neutrality in China are

arduous, they are also of great significance, which highlights China’s determination and courage in dealing with

climate change. The power industry is not onlya major source of carbon emissions but also an important area for

carbon emission reduction. Thus, against the backdrop of carbon neutrality, understanding the development

status of China’s power industry guided by the carbon neutrality background is important because it largely

determines the completeness of China’s carbon reduction promises to the world. This study aims to review

China’s achievements in carbonreduction in the electric industry, its causes and future policy highlights.

Design/methodology/approach –The methods used in this study include descriptive analyses based

on official statistics,government documents and reports.

Findings –The research results show that, after years of deve lopment, the power industry has achieved positive

results in low-carbon provisions and in the electrification of consumption, and carbon emission intensity has

continued to decline. Policy initiatives play a key role in this process, including, but not limited to, technology

innovations, low-carbon power replacement and supported policies for low-carbon transformation toward low-

carbon economies.

Originality/value –This study provides a fullpicture of China’s power industry against the backdrop of

low-carbon development, which could be used as a benchmark for other countries engaging in the same

processes. Moreover, a careful review of China’s development status may offer profound implications for

policymakingboth for China and for other governmentsacross the globe.

Keywords Carbon peak, Carbon neutrality, Power industry, Low-carbon development

Paper type Research paper

© Shan Chen, Yuandi Wang, Hongping Du and Zhiyu Cui. Published by Emerald Publishing Limited.

This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may

reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and

non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full

terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode

IJCCSM

15,2

282

Received11 January 2023

Revised29 January 2023

Accepted29 January 2023

InternationalJournal of Climate

ChangeStrategies and

Management

Vol.15 No. 2, 2023

pp. 282-299

EmeraldPublishing Limited

1756-8692

DOI 10.1108/IJCCSM-01-2023-0006

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

https://www.emerald.com/insight/1756-8692.htm

1. Introduction

With the rapid increase in the global populationand fast-growing industries, carbon dioxide

emissions into the atmosphereare rising, and problems such as the greenhouse effect, ocean

storms, land desertification and climate extremes are becoming increasingly serious (Mora

et al., 2018;Jia et al., 2021;Sunand Li, 2021). Therefore, the question of how to reduce carbon

dioxide emissions has become a key concern for the international community and relevant

governments (Zhang and Da, 2015;Zhao et al.,2021). The report “Global Energy Review:

CO

2

Emissions in 2021”released by the International Energy Agency (IEA) states that

global CO

2

emissions from the energy sectorreached 36.3 billion tons in 2021, growing at a

6% year-on-year pace (IEA, 2021). At the 75th UN General Assembly, the Chinese

Government also proposed significantimprovements to energy use efficiency in key sectors

by 2025, which laid a solid foundation for achieving carbonpeak and carbon neutrality. By

2030, carbon dioxide emissions per unit of gross development product (GDP) will drop by

more than 65% compared to 2005, the share of non-fossil energy consumption will reach

about 25%, and carbon dioxide emissionswill reach a peak and achieve a steady decline. By

2060, the proportion of non-fossilenergy consumption will reach more than 80%, the goal of

carbon neutrality will be successfully achieved and a new era of harmonious coexistence

between humans and nature will be created.In addition, the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report

emphasizes that the concentrationof greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere has risen to

unprecedented levels, which means that it is urgent to implement definitive emissions

reduction activities in all sectors(IPCC, 2014). If global warming is to be controlled to within

1.5°C of pre-industrial levels, global GHG emissions need to peak by 2025, with CO

2

emissions decreasingby approximately 45% in 2030 compared to 2010, and achieving“zero

emissions”by around2050 (Rogelj et al., 2018).

In the context of an increasingly severe global climate, people are gradually embracing

low-carbon lifestyles and pay more attention to a low-carbon sustainable choices (Mathews

and Tan, 2016). China’s carbon emissions have been ranked first in the world since 2005

(Hao et al.,2015;Wang et al., 2020), while the power industry is the sector with the highest

carbon emissions in China, accounting for about 40% of CO

2

emissions from energy

activities. Therefore, innovating business models and encouraging the decarbonization of

the power industry are the main means to promote the low-carbon transformation of the

energy system and long-term GHG emission reduction (Sieminski, 2014). Considering the

urgency and necessity of energyconservation and emission reduction in the power industry,

China’s National Development and Reform Commission officially issued “The 13th Five-

Year Plan for powerdevelopment (2016–2020)”. The policy includes a five-year development

goal for the power industry, as wellas ways to actively prevent excess capacity of coal and

electricity and improve the utilization efficiency of thermal power energy, to significantly

promote the green and low-carbon transformationof the power industry.

It is clear that all kinds of low-carbon economic strategies are being proposed and

implemented with the ultimate goals of protecting the environment, reducing GHG emissions,

balancing energy consumption and slowing down global warming. These strategies contribute to

facilitating green development and promoting the harmonious coexistence of humans and natu re.

However, it is worth noting that there are still many problems in the implementation of the

energy conservation and emission reduction model in China’s power industry, which has not

achieved ideal results. Therefore, taking into full consideration of the international climate and

domestic environment, it is of great theoretical and practical significance to analyze the current

situation of low-carbon development in China’s power industry and put forward carbon emission

reduction measures in the power sector. First, low-carbon development strategies in the power

industry are conducive to improving the harmony between the industrial economy and the

China’s electric

power

industry

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