China Steps Up Green Drive, But Discourages New Gas Plants

摘要

China's decarbonization drive received a further boost this month when the State Council, or cabinet, issued a 10-point action plan that included a call to accelerate the switch from coal to natural gas, renewables and nuclear power (WGI Feb.13'13). The directive, seen as the toughest yet to tackle worsening air quality, set a target of adding at least 150 billion cubic meters per year (14.5 billion cubic feet per day) of gas pipeline delivery capacity by 2015 to the most heavily polluted regions in Beijing, Tianjin, the surrounding Hebei province, and the Yangtze and Pearl River Delta areas. All the regions have been ordered to reduce absolute coal consumption by 2017, with industries told to replace coal-based backup generators, boilers and furnaces with gas-based ones. Nationwide, coal's share of total energy consumption must be cut from 72% to a maximum of 65% by 2017, the State Council said, while gas' share of the mix would rise to 7.5% by 2015 from around 5% now.