—Comprehensive control of greenhouse gas emissions. China is expediting the transformation of its economic development mode, giving full play to the role of energy saving and optimization of energy structure in slowing climate change, and endeavoring to cut fossil energy consumption. It is vigorously developing a circular economy, fostering the comprehensive utilization of resources, enhancing the utilization efficiency of energy, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It continuously improves the capability of addressing climate change with the aid of scientific and technological progress, thereby making positive contributions to the environmental protection of the Earth.

—Energetically fighting ecological destruction and environmental pollution. China will pay more attention to the clean utilization of energy resources, especially coal, and make it a focus of environmental protection, energetically combating ecological destruction and environmental pollution. The country is quickening its pace of control of coal mining subsidence areas and the exploitation and utilization of coal-bed gas, and establishes and improves the compensation mechanism for the exploitation of coal resources and restoration of the eco-environment. It promotes the orderly exploitation of coal resources, restricts the exploitation of high-sulfur and high-ash coal, and forbids mining coal with toxic and harmful substances, such as arsenic and radiotoxins, exceeding permissible limits. It actively develops clean coal technology and encourages the application of coal washing, processing, conversion, clean-burning and smoke-purifying technologies. At the same time, it is expediting the construction of desulfurizing facilities in coal-fired power plants, requiring that newly built coal-fired power plants must install and use desulfurizing facilities according to the permissible emission standards, and such existing plants must speed up their desulfurization upgrading. The Chinese Government strictly prohibits the construction of new coal-fired power plants for the sole purpose of power generation in medium and large cities or on their outskirts.

—Proactive prevention of motor vehicle emission pollution. The development of the automobile industry and the improvement of the people's livelihood have led to a rapid growth in the number of motor vehicles. Consequently, preventing motor vehicle emission pollution has been put high on the environmental protection agenda. China is actively taking effective measures to this end: strictly enforcing vehicle emission standards; intensifying inspection for the environment-friendly production of vehicles; strictly implementing the annual emission inspection system for motor vehicles; strictly forbidding manufacture, sale and import of motor vehicles exceeding the emission limits. At the same time, China encourages the production and use of vehicles burning clean fuels, and the production of hybrid electric vehicles, and supports the development of rail transport and electric buses.

—Exercising strict environmental management of energy projects. Strengthening the environmental management of energy projects is an effective measure to ensure coordinated development between energy construction and environmental protection. China strictly enforces the environmental impact assessment system, restrains extensive mode of economic growth by exercising a strict environment access system. It ensures simultaneous design, construction and launching of environmental protection facilities at new, expansion and rebuilding projects, intensifies safe management of nuclear power projects, reinforces supervision and management of the safety and radiation environment of nuclear power plants, research reactors and fuel cycle facilities in operation, and practices meticulous safety examination and supervision of nuclear power facilities under construction. It further enhances environmental protection efforts in the construction of hydropower projects, pays equal attention to the requirements of comprehensive development and utilization of river basins while protecting the environment, and increasing the level of comprehensive utilization of water resources and eco-environmental benefits.

VII. Deepening Energy System Reform

Improving the environment for development is an intrinsic requirement of China's energy development. In accordance with the requirements of perfecting the socialist market economy, China is steadily advancing its energy system reform to promote the development of the energy industry. In 1998, strategic reorganization was accomplished among petroleum enterprises, featuring the establishment of new vertically integrated management system of oil industry. In 2002, China's power industry realized the separation of government functions from those of enterprises, as well as the separation of power plants from grid operation in line with the power system reform plan. In 2005, after the market-oriented reform of the coal industry, China's coal industry saw deepened reform and further development pursuant to the Opinions on Promoting the Healthy Development of the Coal Industry issued by the State Council. China is further deepening reform of the energy system, elevating the energy marketization level, improving the energy macro-control system, and improving the environment for energy development in accordance with the requirements of innovation in concept, management, system and mechanism.

—Strengthening energy legislation. It is an imperative requirement for energy development in China to improve the energy-related legal system to provide a legal guarantee for increasing the energy supply, standardizing the energy market, optimizing the energy structure and maintaining energy security. China sets great store by and actively advances the construction of the energy legal system. China has enacted and put in force the Clean Production Promotion Law and Renewable Energy Law, and has issued a series of supporting policies and measures. The amended Energy Conservation Law has been promulgated. The Energy Law, Circular Economy Law, Law on the Protection of Oil and Natural Gas Pipelines and Regulations on Energy Conservation of Buildings are being formulated. The Mineral Resources Law, Coal Industry Law, and Electric Power Law are being revised. Meanwhile, active efforts have been made in research into energy legislation concerning oil and natural gas, the crude oil market and atomic energy.

—Reinforcing production safety. In the course of energy development, China pays high attention to safeguarding the lives and health of the people, and takes effective measures to halt the trend of frequent occurrences of serious accidents. It adheres to the principle of giving top priority to safety, placing the main emphasis on prevention, and exercising comprehensive control. It has intensified efforts in the control and comprehensive utilization of coal gas, and rectified and shut down small coalmines lacking conditions for safe production. It has enforced safety supervision of coalmines, and guided local governments and enterprises to intensify efforts in technological upgrading for coalmine safety and the construction of safety facilities. It comprehensively carries out education on safe production to enhance the sense of responsibility for safety, continues to consolidate electric power safety and petroleum and gas production safety, intensifies supervision and management measures, and practices a working system, in which production safety is supervised by the state and administered by local governments while enterprises take the responsibility. It further implements the safe production responsibility system, and enforces rigorous safe production laws and regulations and a related accountability system.

—Improving the emergency response system. As an important aspect of economic security, energy security has a direct bearing on national security and social stability. China practices unified power dispatch, hierarchical power management and operation of power grids by regions. A safety responsibility system with division of work among government departments, supervision organs and power enterprises has been established, in which the power grids and power generation enterprises work out emergency response plans to cope with large-scale emergencies. Following the principle of unified planning and step-by-step implementation, China has built national oil reserve bases and expanded its oil reserve capacity. It has gradually established a guarantee system for oil and natural gas supply emergencies to ensure secure supplies of energy.

—Accelerating market system construction. China sticks to the policy of reform and opening-up, gives full play to the basic role of the market in allocating resources, encourages the entrance of entities of various ownerships into the energy field, and actively facilitates market-oriented reform related to energy. It has improved the coal market system in an all-round manner, established an open, orderly and healthy power market system characterized by separating government functions from those of enterprises and fair competition, paced up the reform of oil and natural gas circulation system, and promoted the healthy and orderly development of energy market.

—Deepening reform of management system. China has stepped up efforts in the reform of its energy management system, improved the national energy management system and decision-making mechanism, strengthened unified planning and coordination among state departments and local governments, and consolidated the state's overall planning and macro-control in the field of energy development, with the focus on changing functions, straightening out relations, optimizing the setup and raising efficiency, so as to form a management system that centralizes control to an appropriate degree, divides work in a rational way, fosters scientific decision-making, and ensures smooth enforcement and effective oversight. The Chinese Government has furthered the transformation of government functions, giving priority to guidance by policy measures and attaching importance to information services. It has deepened the reform of the energy investment system, and established and improved the investment regulation and control system. It has further strengthened standardized management of energy resources, improved the management system of mineral resources development and exploitation, put in place and improved the system for paid use of mineral resources and the system of trade in mining rights, and rectified and regulated the order of mineral resources exploitation market.

—Advancing price mechanism reform. The price mechanism is the core of the market mechanism. On the premise of properly handling the relations among various interest groups and taking full account of the acceptability of all social sectors, the Chinese Government has advanced energy price reform in a vigorous, yet steady way, gradually established a pricing mechanism that is able to reflect resource scarcities, changes in market supply and demand, and environmental costs. It has deepened coal price reform to realize all-round marketization. It has propelled electricity tariff reform to ensure that electricity generation and selling prices are eventually formed by market competition, with the electricity transmission and distribution prices being supervised and controlled by the state. It has improved step by step the oil and natural gas pricing mechanism to timely reflect changes in international market prices and domestic market supply and demand.

VIII. Strengthening International Cooperation in the Field of Energy

China's development cannot be achieved without cooperation with the rest of the world, and the prosperity of the world needs China as well. With accelerating economic globalization, China has forged increasingly closer ties with the outside world in the field of energy. China's development of energy has not only satisfied its own needs for economic and social progress, but also brought opportunities and tremendous space for development to the rest of the world.