China: No Energy Transformation, but Full Speed Ahead. Or …?

Abstract

No country has grown faster over the past few decades than China. And no country has more rapidly increased its energy consumption. China is now both the planet’s foremost energy consumer and its foremost CO₂ emitter. Fairly abundant in a number of natural resources, domestically mined coal has been the solution to most of China’s energy challenges up until fairly recently. Coal still accounts for 64 percent of primary energy consumption, almost 80 percent of the electricity generated, and at 47 percent of world total, China is the biggest coal consumer in the world (Andrews-Speed, 2012; Bloch et al., 2012; China Daily, 2015b; Karlsson, 2012; Zhang et al., 2013a). There is, however, also a growing realization within the Chinese leadership that few countries will be hit harder by global warming, through floods, droughts, and air pollution (e.g. Wang, 2010; Zhang et al., 2013a). While major transformation to the Chinese energy structure has yet to happen — and is probably also far away from happening — a dramatic expansion in renewable energy has been among the Chinese responses to both its energy and climate challenges.