A revolution coming in global energy mix

PREMIUM CONTENT. To continue reading please login, or click on SUBSCRIBE above, or purchase access to this report for 1 month.

$4.50


December 13, 2017

CHINA is one of four major factors that will reshape the global energy market over the next two decades, says the International Energy Agency. The others are the U.S., which is set to become the undisputed global oil and gas leader, development of renewables, and a growing share of electricity in the energy mix . . .

CHINA and its new industrial policy will play a key role in helping the world transit to a cleaner energy environment over the next two decades, according to the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA).
In 2017 World Energy Outlook, its flagship publication, the IEA says China is increasingly switching from coal to solar, other forms of renewable energy and natural gas.
It says China is entering a new phase in its development.
China’s President, Xi Jinping, has called for an ”energy revolution” in the “fight against pollution” as he aims to guide the Chinese economy to one based on services, leaving behind low-end manufacturing.
The publication notes that Xi’s policies are moving China’s – and, in turn, the world’s — energy sector in a new direction, with the emphasis in energy policy now firmly on electricity, natural gas and cleaner, high-efficiency and digital technologies.
It says China’s previous orientation towards heavy industry, infrastructure development and the export of manufactured goods has left it with an energy system dominated by coal, and a legacy of serious environmental problems. Almost two million premature deaths occur each year because of poor air quality.
Under Xi’s new industrial policy, the agency says China’s energy usage is moving in a new direction.
Demand growth has slowed markedly from an average of 8.0 per cent per year from 2000 to 2012 to less than 2.0 per cent per year since 2012. The IEA expects this to slow further to 1.0 per cent a year to 2040.
“Energy efficiency regulation explains a large part of this slowdown,” the report says. “Without new efficiency measures, end-use consumption in 2040 would be 40 per cent higher. Nonetheless, by 2040, per-capita energy consumption in China will exceed that of the EU.”