CGTN:

Just now, Mr. Zhang mentioned that China announced last year that it would strive to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, which has undoubtedly sent a signal of green and low-carbon development to both international and domestic communities. What are China's specific measures to achieve low-carbon development? What are the biggest obstacles in regarding these goals? Thank you.

Zhang Jianhua:

Thank you for your question. The Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee put forward that during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), high-quality development will be the main theme for our economic and social development. The Proposals (Proposals of the CPC Central Committee for Formulating the 14th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development and the Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035) identify the tasks for promoting an energy revolution, building an intelligent and modern green infrastructure, accelerating green and low-carbon development, as well as how best to develop the smart energy system. To implement the guiding principles of the Fifth Plenary Session and promote high-quality energy development, we will focus on the following six areas during the 14th Five-Year Plan period.

First, the capacity for guaranteeing energy security will be enhanced. We need to accelerate the establishment of a diversified and secure energy supply system, ensure a dynamic balance between energy supply and demand, and continue to open up in a wider, broader, and deeper way to achieve energy security. Just now, Mr. Zhao also touched upon these goals.

Second, the transition to clean and low-carbon energy will be accelerated. China's non-fossil energy consumption accounted for 15.3% of total energy consumption in 2019 and is expected to reach 15.8% by the end of this year. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, we will further innovate development methods, speed up the development and utilization of clean energy, advance non-fossil energy and natural gas to become the main driver for energy consumption increase and raise the proportion of clean energy consumption by a larger margin. China declared that it will boost the share of non-fossil energy consumption to around 25% by 2030, a significant increase that will mean over 70% of our expanded energy needs will mainly come from non-fossil energy in the future.

Third, a smart energy system will be established. We will accelerate the digital and intelligent upgrading of the entire energy industry chain, quicken the construction of smart energy demonstration projects, and speed up the growth of new energy models and businesses.

Fourth, energy projects will be carried out to benefit the public. In response to ordinary people's new expectations for a better life, we will continue to strengthen the construction of energy infrastructure, vigorously elevate urban and rural electrification levels, and significantly improve the energy utilization in production and living for the general public. In fact, energy use in China has improved significantly in recent years. Compared with developed countries, however, the public's energy consumption remains relatively low, with an average per capita electricity consumption of 730 kWh, in contrast to that of around 2,000 kWh in developed European countries.

Fifth, the energy revolution will be deepened. We will advance market-oriented reforms in the fields of electricity, petroleum, and gas; build a high-standard energy market system; press ahead with reforms to streamline administration and power delegation systems; improve regulation, and; upgrade services in the energy sector, improve the energy business environment, and further unleash the market vitality.

Sixth, rule of law in the energy sector will be improved. We will work to formulate energy laws, revise electricity and renewable energy laws, and other laws and regulations, as well as improve the related institutions and systems for implementing new energy security strategies in promoting the transition to clean and low-carbon energy.

Of course, what I have mentioned is just the main work and the specific tasks far exceed these. Because time is limited, I only introduced the six aspects above.

Cover News:

In recent years, significant progress has been made in the area of clean heating in northern China. Nonetheless, we also notice that people in some regions have reported problems such as the high price of clean energy and poor heating overall. What measures will be taken to promote and improve clean heating in northern China in the future? Thank you.

Zhang Jianhua:

Mr. Zhu will answer this question. 

Zhu Ming:

The National Development and Reform Commission, the National Energy Administration, and other departments have fully implemented General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions on promoting clean heating in northern China during winter and have established and improved the relevant policy systems and actively yet prudently promoted the work needed to be done so as to ensure a safe, warm, and clean winter for our people.

First, we rolled out a clean winter heating plan for Northern China (2017-2021), and its implementation has been very effective.

Second, we made arrangements for clean heating before every winter. We have set up the inter-ministerial joint committee for clean heating, created a clean heating report every 10 days during the heating season, and established mechanisms to coordinate coal, electricity, petroleum, and gas supply and transportation. We also worked to monitor and manage winter heating operations to find and solve relevant problems in a timely manner.

Third, the central government has financed trials to promote clean heating across northern China. A total of 43 cities, rolled out in three batches, have been supported by these pilot programs, with an accumulative investment of 49.3 billionyuan.

Fourth, we improved pricing with regards to replacing coal with electricity, clarified the price of replacing coal with natural gas, improved the pricing mechanism for heating, and reduced the cost of clean heating. In order to ensure a safe and reliable supply of electricity, we spared no efforts to strengthen the upgrading of distribution networks. The distribution transformer capacity per household in regions where coal is being replaced by electricity is generally higher than the 2000 VA standard for rural power grid upgrading. We organized power grid enterprises to uncover potential dangers in the supply and utilization of the coal-to-electricity power supply before the heating season, and optimized grid dispatch capacity to ensure a safe and stable power supply.

To ensure a reliable supply of natural gas, on the one hand, we have fully promoted the operation of some key projects that will lay the foundation to boost the supply capacity for natural gas. These include the development of the middle section (Changling-Yongqing) of the China-Russia east-route natural gas pipeline and the Wen-23 underground gas storage in central China,. On the other hand, we have done a good job in dispatching natural gas resources to meet ordinary people's needs. Meanwhile, we gave full play to PipeChina's dispatching role across the pipeline network to ensure a balance between natural gas supply and demand.

Hu Kaihong:

That's all for today's press conference. Thank you to Mr. Zhang, Mr. Zhao, and Mr. Zhu. Thank you all.

Translated and edited by Guo Yiming, Zhang Liying, Gong Yingchun, Zhang Rui, Zhang Tingting, Wang Zhiyong, Xu Xiaoxuan, Li Huiru, Fan Junmei, He Shan, Wang Qian, Wang Yiming, Yuan Fang, Cui Can, David Ball, Jay Birbeck, and Tom Arnstein. In case of any discrepancy between the English and Chinese texts, the Chinese version is deemed to prevail.