On April 22nd, the General Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council released the "Opinions on Conducting Energy Conservation and Carbon Reduction Work at a Higher Level and of Higher Quality". The full text is as follows:
Energy conservation and carbon reduction are crucial measures for promoting carbon peak and carbon neutrality, and for accelerating the green transformation of the development model. They are also important supports for safeguarding national energy security and promoting the upgrading of industries. To better carry out energy conservation and carbon reduction work at a higher level and of higher quality, with the approval of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council, the following opinions are hereby proposed.
I. General Requirements
We will thoroughly implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the previous plenary sessions of the 20th Central Committee, earnestly implement the deployment of the Fourth Plenary Session, fully, accurately and comprehensively implement the new development concepts, adhere to the general principle of seeking progress while maintaining stability, combine effective markets with proactive governments, coordinate development and security, consistently uphold the priority of conservation, integrate energy conservation and carbon reduction throughout the entire process and all aspects of economic and social development, do energy conservation and carbon reduction work at a higher level and with greater quality, resolutely curb the unreasonable growth of energy consumption, continuously improve the output efficiency of energy and resources, effectively reduce carbon emissions from the source, and provide a strong guarantee for achieving carbon peak and carbon neutrality and accelerating the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development.
II. Jointly Promote Energy Conservation, Carbon Reduction and Green Transformation
(1) Coordinate energy conservation and carbon reduction with industrial optimization and upgrading. Strengthen the coordination and synergy between energy conservation and carbon reduction policies and industrial planning, capacity control, etc. Enhance the incentives and constraints for energy conservation and carbon reduction, as well as the leadership of standard improvement, and continuously reduce the industry's reliance on energy. Vigorously promote energy-saving and low-carbon, clean production technologies, equipment and products, actively implement market-based energy conservation and carbon reduction services, and support the use of digital and intelligent technologies and green technologies to transform and upgrade traditional industries. Effectively control high-energy-consuming and high-emission projects, legally and orderly promote the elimination of backward and inefficient production capacity and equipment, and collaboratively resolve structural contradictions in key industries. Accelerate the development of advanced manufacturing, high-tech industries and modern services, vigorously develop green and low-carbon industries, and actively cultivate new industries and new business forms conducive to energy conservation and carbon reduction. Promote the construction of zero-carbon parks and develop the "green-to-green" model of manufacturing green products using green energy.
(2) Coordinate energy conservation and carbon reduction with the green transformation of energy. Handle the relationship between energy conservation and carbon reduction and energy security, scientifically control the total energy consumption, strictly control the consumption of fossil energy, comprehensively reduce coal and oil consumption, strengthen the management of new coal and oil demand, actively promote the clean replacement of coal-fired boilers and industrial kilns, orderly replace scattered coal, and gradually peak coal consumption and oil consumption. Reasonably control the scale of coal-fired power generation and power generation volume, vigorously develop non-fossil energy and new energy storage, accelerate the construction of a new power system, scientifically plan pumped storage power stations, innovate business models such as green power direct connection and intelligent microgrids, promote the consumption of green electricity, and gradually cover the new energy power generation capacity to meet the new electricity demand of the entire society. Improve energy production efficiency, promote the efficient extraction technologies and equipment for fossil energy, strengthen the energy conservation and carbon reduction renovations of coal-fired power plants and flexibility renovations, reasonably determine the sequence and peak regulation depth of coal-fired power dispatching, continuously improve the efficiency of wind and solar power generation and the energy conversion efficiency of energy storage devices, and steadily reduce the comprehensive line loss rate of the power grid.
III. Vigorously promote energy conservation and carbon reduction in key areas
(3) Strengthen industrial energy conservation and carbon reduction. Comprehensively enhance the energy efficiency levels of key industries such as steel, non-ferrous metals, petrochemicals, chemicals, and building materials. Focus on production processes, key procedures, and key equipment, and implement in-depth energy conservation and carbon reduction diagnostics. Organize and implement a number of industrial energy conservation and carbon reduction projects. Deepen energy conservation and carbon reduction in industrial parks, promote the joint construction and sharing of heating and cooling infrastructure, strengthen energy exchange and cascade utilization among enterprises, support cross-industry coupling improvements such as steel integration and refining and chemical integration, carry out ecological industrial park construction, and promote the overall optimization of the park's energy system and the intensive, efficient, and circular utilization of resources.
(4) Strengthening building energy conservation and carbon reduction. Strictly manage the energy efficiency of new buildings, optimize the design for energy conservation and carbon reduction in buildings, promote the large-scale development of ultra-low energy buildings, and build "good houses" that are safe, comfortable, green, and smart. In combination with the renovation of old residential areas, clean heating and other work, actively promote energy conservation and carbon reduction renovations of existing buildings, strengthen energy conservation and carbon reduction management during building operation. Establish a building energy efficiency grading system. Optimize the energy consumption structure of buildings, orderly promote the construction of building photovoltaic integration, and promote the substitution of residual heat resources and non-fossil energy for heating based on local conditions. Deeply promote the reform of heating metering, orderly rationalize heating prices, support the renewal and upgrading of aging heating pipelines and other facilities and equipment, and the intelligent upgrade of heating systems, and strive to improve the energy utilization efficiency at all stages of heating.
(5) Promote energy conservation and carbon reduction in transportation. Vigorously develop railway and waterway transportation, continuously enhance the efficiency and greenness of road transportation, improve the operational efficiency of civil aviation air traffic control, actively develop multimodal transportation. Continuously advance the construction of green transportation infrastructure, enhance the green and intelligent level of facilities and equipment in transportation hubs, expressways, etc., and establish a network of charging and swapping stations, shore power, etc. Build zero-carbon transportation corridors. Promote energy-efficient and low-carbon transportation vehicles, reasonably optimize the energy consumption limit requirements for vehicles, actively develop electric (hydrogen) heavy-duty trucks and green fuel vessels, and support the blending and substitution of clean and low-carbon fuels.
(6) Accelerate energy conservation and carbon reduction in digital infrastructure. Promote energy conservation and carbon reduction renovations for infrastructure such as computing power, communication base stations, and data centers. Encourage optimization and upgrading in areas like equipment selection, cooling architecture, cabinet power density, and system intelligent operation strategies. Continuously enhance energy efficiency per unit of computing power and information traffic. Strengthen the assessment and review of computing infrastructure projects, strictly incorporate energy efficiency indicators such as power utilization efficiency into management, increase the utilization of renewable energy and the recycling of waste heat resources, and support the development of green, low-carbon, and resource-efficient computing facilities.
(7) Deepen energy conservation and carbon reduction in public institutions. Promote energy-saving and carbon-reduction renovations of the building envelope, heating, cooling, lighting and other facilities and equipment in public institutions. Promote contract energy management models such as energy cost management. Continuously reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions per unit of building area. Strengthen energy consumption quota management for public institutions and improve information management for energy conservation and resource utilization. Vigorously carry out the construction of energy-saving public institutions as models, and comprehensively build energy-saving government agencies.
IV. Further strengthen supervision and management of energy conservation and carbon reduction
(8) Strictly conduct energy conservation and carbon reduction review and evaluation. Make full use of standards such as energy efficiency, carbon emissions, and technology to guide the process. Strengthen comprehensive review and evaluation of energy consumption, coal consumption, and carbon emissions for new (renovation, expansion) industrial projects. When such projects are included in national planning layout or go through approval, verification, and filing procedures, they should formulate carbon emission equivalent or reduction replacement plans. The implementation status will be regarded as an important part of the carbon emission evaluation. Dynamically adjust the authority for energy conservation and carbon reduction review and evaluation of fixed asset investment projects. Regularly conduct supervision and assessment of the implementation of energy conservation and carbon reduction systems. For regions with seriously lagging energy conservation and carbon reduction indicators and insufficient review and evaluation capabilities, their authority for energy conservation and carbon reduction review and evaluation will be adjusted or suspended in accordance with the law and regulations, and project approval and restriction will be implemented.
(IX) Strengthen the management of key energy-consuming and carbon-emitting entities. Establish and improve the energy-saving and carbon reduction management archives for key energy-consuming and carbon-emitting entities. Explore the establishment of an energy efficiency, carbon emissions disclosure and classification system to comprehensively enhance the level of management refinement. Strengthen the review of annual energy utilization status reports and carbon emission inventories submitted by key energy-consuming and carbon-emitting entities, and urge them to implement energy audits in accordance with regulations. Strictly enforce the systems for the allocation of energy and carbon emission measuring instruments and the construction of information systems. Encourage voluntary commitments for energy conservation and carbon reduction.
(10) Strengthen full-process supervision of energy conservation and carbon reduction. Regularly conduct tracking and monitoring of indicators related to energy consumption such as coal, oil, and electricity. Strengthen comparative analysis of indicators among similar regions, promptly issue warnings and alerts for regions that lag behind in achieving their targets or have unreasonable growth in indicators. Take targeted regulatory measures as appropriate. Strengthen supervision of the implementation of energy conservation and carbon reduction laws, policies, and standards by key energy-consuming and carbon-emitting entities. Conduct special supervision on the implementation of energy review and carbon emission assessment opinions on a regular basis, and strengthen the application of results. Enhance the connection and coordination between energy conservation and carbon reduction supervision and comprehensive administrative law enforcement, special equipment supervision, and environmental protection law enforcement. Explore joint law enforcement among departments to improve law enforcement efficiency. Strengthen the construction of energy conservation and carbon reduction management and supervision and law enforcement capabilities at all levels of government. Encourage localities to enhance regulatory effectiveness by leveraging professional forces and information technology means.
V. Strengthening Support and Guarantee for Energy Conservation and Carbon Reduction Work
(11) Improve laws and regulations. Strengthen the overall coordination of energy conservation and carbon reduction efforts. Accelerate the revision of the Energy Conservation Law. Amend and promulgate the Renewable Energy Law. Complete the revision of administrative regulations such as the Regulations on Energy Conservation in Civil Buildings and the Regulations on Energy Conservation in Public Institutions, and improve regulations such as energy conservation supervision and energy efficiency labeling. Revise and issue the management methods for key energy-consuming and carbon-emitting units.
(12) Improve the standard identification system. Based on the requirements of carbon peak and carbon neutrality, the needs of industrial development, and the actual progress of technological advancement, accelerate the improvement of standards for energy consumption and carbon emissions limits in key industries, as well as the energy efficiency of key energy-consuming products and equipment. Gradually raise the requirements of the indicators. Develop and implement a series of energy-saving and carbon reduction national standards for new fields and new business models, continuously improve supporting standards for energy and carbon emission measurement, monitoring, and certification. Strengthen the data foundation for standard formulation and revision, and enhance the assessment and feedback on standard implementation. Improve the green product certification and identification system, strengthen the management and application of energy efficiency labels, and establish a product carbon labeling and certification system.
(13) Strengthen policy support. Based on comprehensive consideration of energy consumption and environmental performance levels, study and improve differentiated electricity pricing policies for key industrial sectors, optimize the tiered electricity pricing system for residents, and establish a time-of-use electricity pricing mechanism. Improve the implementation of export control policies for high-energy-consuming products. Leverage the driving effect of government investment, and utilize existing funding channels to support eligible energy-saving and carbon reduction projects. Deeply implement the government's mandatory purchase and priority purchase systems for energy-saving products, and encourage all entities to raise the procurement standards and proportions of energy-saving products. Fully utilize the role of the energy-saving and carbon reduction market mechanism, implement favorable tax policies for energy-saving and carbon reduction, and guide financial institutions to provide diversified financial product services based on the characteristics of energy-saving and carbon reduction demands in key areas. Study and establish a national low-carbon transformation fund to support the green transformation of traditional industries and resource-rich regions.
(14) Strengthen the application of technological innovation. Focus on areas such as efficient energy-saving equipment, smart energy utilization, and energy-saving and carbon reduction in key industries. Cultivate a number of scientific and technological innovation platforms and bases, increase support for key national research and development programs, and intensify efforts on key core technology research. Improve the market-oriented green technological innovation system, support leading enterprises to take the lead in establishing major energy-saving and low-carbon technological innovation consortia, and build a number of enterprise technology centers. Update the recommended catalogues of energy-saving and carbon reduction technologies and equipment in a timely manner, and accelerate the promotion and application of advanced and applicable equipment such as energy-saving boilers, permanent magnet motors, high-efficiency refrigeration, green lighting, and high-temperature heat pumps.
(15) Enhance basic work capabilities. Innovate the talent training model, optimize the setting of related disciplines and professional training systems in energy management and energy conservation and carbon reduction fields, improve relevant professional standards, deepen the integration of industry and education, and the integration of science and education. Strengthen the professional capacity training for personnel related to energy conservation and carbon reduction in government departments, law enforcement agencies, enterprises and institutions. Better leverage the role of industry associations, and enhance the capacity building for energy conservation and carbon reduction in key industries and fields. Improve the national and provincial regional energy and carbon emission annual reports and quick reports system, and establish energy statistics systems for key sectors such as coal and industrial, construction, and transportation.
VI. Strengthening Implementation and Organization
(16) Strengthen organizational leadership. All regions and departments should, under the centralized and unified leadership of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, enhance overall planning, focus on systematic measures, and effectively implement this opinion based on their actual circumstances. All-level leading officials should establish and practice the correct concept of performance, and actively promote energy conservation and carbon reduction work in their respective regions and fields. Local Party committees and governments at all levels are fully responsible for the energy conservation and carbon reduction work within their administrative regions, and the main responsible persons should earnestly fulfill the primary responsibility. The National Development and Reform Commission should earnestly perform the duties of coordinating the overall situation of carbon peak and carbon neutrality and the energy conservation department, strengthen work planning and implementation, strengthen tracking assessment and supervision guidance, coordinate and solve major problems, and incorporate the completion of energy conservation and carbon reduction targets into the comprehensive evaluation and assessment of carbon peak and carbon neutrality. All relevant departments should perform their respective duties, cooperate closely, and form a synergy. State-owned enterprises, especially central enterprises, should strengthen demonstration and leadership in energy conservation and carbon reduction. State organs, people's organizations, enterprises and institutions, social organizations, etc. should actively promote energy conservation and carbon reduction work in their own units and fields. Major matters should be promptly reported to the Central Committee and the State Council in accordance with procedures.
(17) Implement a nationwide initiative. Continuously hold activities such as National Ecological Day, National Energy Conservation Publicity Week, and National Low-Carbon Day. Advocate a simple, moderate, green, and low-carbon lifestyle and consumption pattern, and effectively enhance the internal driving force for energy conservation and carbon reduction across society. Party members should set a good example and truly advocate and practice energy conservation and carbon reduction. Open up channels for public supervision, actively publicize advanced energy conservation and carbon reduction models and practices, and increase the exposure of illegal energy use and energy waste behaviors.
(18) Strengthen international cooperation. Deepen international dialogue and practical cooperation in the field of energy conservation and carbon reduction, expand channels for dialogue and cooperation, actively participate in and lead international governance, and vigorously promote the effectiveness of China's green transformation. Learn from international advanced experience, strengthen cooperation in energy conservation and carbon reduction technologies, support the trade of energy-saving and low-carbon products, and encourage energy-saving and low-carbon service enterprises to go global. Participate actively in the formulation and revision of international standards for energy conservation and carbon reduction, and promote international mutual recognition of energy conservation and carbon reduction standards and labels.
