China's legislature is studying how to revise the country's
energy conservation law to meet the goals of both economic
development and energy conservation, a senior Chinese legislator
said on Monday.
Li Tieying, vice-chairman of the National People's Congress
(NPC) Standing Committee, said that the current energy conservation
law no longer meets the country's development needs.
Li said that changing the focus of economic development from
energy and resources consumption to energy saving will have a
profound effect on relations between people, society and
nature.
The NPC Standing Committee enacted the Energy Conservation Law
of China in November 1997. It governs the administration of energy,
the proper use of energy resources, promotion of energy-saving
technology and protection of the environment.
Research into the effectiveness and enforcement of the law is
being conducted by the NPC Standing Committee, he said. The NPC
Standing Committee also wants to revise the Energy Conservation Law
to secure a strong legal framework for building an energy-saving
society, he said.
Li called for the law and policies to encourage economic growth
and energy conservation, noting that economic development that
features high energy consumption which results in serious pollution
and waste is not sustainable.
Li made the remarks at a seminar on energy conservation and
legislation. Li noted that development can not only be concerned
with the growth of the GDP, it must also be in harmony with
nature.
According to a report released by the Development Research
Center of the State Council, energy supply uncertainties can be
effectively addressed with a comprehensive national energy policy
that stresses energy efficiency, renewable energy and a more market
oriented oil and gas sector.
China should more aggressively promote energy efficiency and
commercialization of its national oil and gas companies by opening
the sector to international oil companies. This will attract
investment and needed new technologies, said the report.
The country should clarify the security-enhancing roles of both
international and national companies. This could lead to the
creation of a market-oriented, multi-source, robust national energy
economy that would provide an important basis for security of
supply, the report said.
The "right mix" of a specific security of supply measures should
be selected according to China's needs from a suite of measures
that includes: maintaining spare domestic production capability;
protection of its import oil transport channels; accumulated
reserves; allocation and possibly rationing systems to share scare
supplies equitably; and close international cooperation with
trading partners for whom secure oil supplies are essential for
their economic well being and with energy exporters who have a
similar interest in secure markets, the report stressed.
Recognizing the country's interdependence in the global energy
sector and incorporating security of supply into the country's long
term strategy could be the first steps on the road towards a stable
energy supply, which is one of the pillars of sustainable
development for the sector and the overall economy during the
coming decades, the report said.
(Xinhua News Agency June 13, 2006)