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China content with status quo on oil use

POLICY AT China’s recent Communist Party Congress, been mixed, with some energy analysts in Asia
President Xi said China is in no rush to move predicting previous carbon neutrality goals by
China is in no rush to away from the use of oil, despite promises to 2060, could now be delayed.
depart from oil. reach eventual net-zero emissions. Back in China there are now hints of confu-
As part of his opening speech at the event sion at the regional government level after many
held every five years in Beijing, President Xi said: had initially reacted to comments by Xi in 2020,
“We will work actively and prudently toward the by investing in renewables projects across the
goals of reaching peak carbon emissions and car- nation.
bon neutrality,” albeit adding a note of caution Much of this investment was made on the
with “(B)ased on China’s energy and resource premise that emissions were predicted to peak
endowments, we will advance initiatives to reach by 2030, at the latest.
peak carbon emissions in a well-planned and But with almost 100 new mines approved in
phased way, in line with the principle of getting recent months, many of these same regional gov-
the new before discarding the old.” ernments are now looking to stock up on coal
Xi’s comments came as part of a two-hour supplies to see them through the coming winter.
speech peppered with references to domestic Beijing is also known to be increasing its
security issues, energy security included. search for oil and gas resources both at home
In recent years, China has seen a num- and abroad.
ber of areas in the north and north-east of the Seen as part of domestic efforts to guarantee
nation suffer power cuts during periods of peak energy security for China, efforts to this end in
demand, something China has taken to heart South and Southeast Asia in particular are being
and is known to be working hard to avoid this opposed to prevent what is seen as part of Chi-
year as winter approaches. nese expansionism in the region.
And in an indirect reference to ongoing In its efforts to increase its green footprint,
efforts to improve coal infrastructure to this end, meanwhile, China’s ruling Communist Party is
despite earlier this year seeming to be moving now investing more than any other country in
away from increasing coal use, Xi said: “coal will the world in renewables infrastructure.
be used in a cleaner and more efficient way, and Demand for energy from a population of over
we will speed up the planning and development 1.4bn, however, continues to outpace efforts by
of new energy systems.” China’s renewables industry to keep up, despite
The overriding message was clear from the promises by Xi to hasten efforts to develop new
man now called ‘president-for-life’, however, in systems.
that China will keep using oil and other forms of And with international observers lining up
fossil fuel until it is ready to switch over to renew- to criticise China’s decision to walk out of cli-
able energy sources, regardless of international mate change talks with the US after a recent
promises on reducing emissions. visit by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a
This is a reality seen most obviously across string of other high profile politicians to Tai-
the country in the form of coal, with mining and wan, China may find itself left wanting when it
usage records set just last year looking set to be comes to foreign investment to keep that same
broken by the end of 2022. renewables industry on track in the coming
The initial response to Xi’s comments has years. ™

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 42 24•October•2022