China showed support during the National People’s Congress this week for almost all forms of energy — even coal, it’s unloved, biggest source of power. Natural gas, nuclear, wind and hydropower all received boosts as leaders pledged to follow President Xi Jinping’s orders to clean up the nation’s polluted air.
Premier Li Keqiang said the world’s largest energy user would continue “defending the blue sky” in a government work report to the congress on March 5, a signal that the priority is to continue along the clean-air path set out in earlier years, according to analysts at Credit Suisse Group AG. Some of the other highlights in speeches and announcements around the annual gathering include:
It’s loving gas
China’s leaders put to rest any fears that the past winter’s natural gas shortages might discourage efforts to switch some users from coal to the cleaner-burning fuel.
The country aims to raise its share of the energy mix to 7.5 percent, while reducing coal’s to 59 percent, the National Energy Administration said in its annual guidance paper March 7.
The country’s biggest supplier, China National Petroleum Corp., lobbied for lower taxes on gas imports, reformed pricing mechanisms for gas sold to homes and businesses, and expanded storage capacity to help meet peak winter demand.
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