monopolies like pipelines; and (iii) improve the
efficiency of government regulation, prioritising
regulations for processes and activities like fair
market access, trading behaviour, natural
monopolies, taxes, pricing, safety and environmental protection, and combining legal tools,
administrative means, specifications and public
engagement to enable collaborative regulation.
To enable the market to play the decisive role
in resource allocation and the government to play
a more efficient role, those parts of existing laws
that are outdated or conflict with the oil and gas
sector or hinder its reform should be repealed or
modified to facilitate oil and gas mining rights
reform. For example, those parts not suitable for
a market system in the Mineral Resources Law of
the People’s Republic of China, the Rules for the
Implementation of the Mineral Resources Law
of the People’s Republic of China, the Regulations on Registering Mineral Resource
Exploitation, the Administrative Measures for the
Registration of Mineral Resource Exploration
Blocks, the Measures for the Registration
Administration of Mineral Resource Exploration,
the Environmental Protection Law of the People’s Republic of China and other laws and
regulations should be amended as soon as possible. In addition, it is suggested that the Oil Law
and Gas Law be studied and used as soon as
possible to: (i) standardise the business activities
of the companies and public bodies active in the
oil and gas sector; (ii) standardise the supervisory
and administrative activities of government and
the actions of other stakeholders; (iii) improve
the development, use and conservation of oil and
gas resources; and (iv) enable the healthy
development of the oil and gas sector and other
related sectors. The development of energy regulations should be completed as soon as possible
to define regulators’ roles, functions and
responsibilities, regulatory procedures and the
decision-making mechanism; standardise information disclosure and the dispute settlement
mechanism; and define the penalties for violations. All these actions will give legal support to
supervisory and regulatory work and help them
become authoritative.
6 Reforming the Coal Sector
6.1 Progress and Trends in Global
Coal Industry Reform
6.1.1 More and More Countries Have
Adopted a Coal Exit
Strategy
Reducing emissions from coal combustion has
become an important aspect of cooperative global governance. The international community has
maintained a high degree of unanimity regarding
the global fight against environmental pollution
and climate change. The Paris Agreement was
adopted with the unanimous agreement of 195
countries. The USA officially announced its
withdrawal from the Paris Agreement in June
2017 and submitted withdrawal documents to the
United Nations in August 2017, receiving
widespread criticism. Reducing pollutant emissions is an irreversible trend and an important
issue in global governance. The USA’s withdrawal has not yet had a material impact on
global emissions reduction and will not shake the
worldwide determination for global climate
governance or change the development course of
clean energy. Coal is a fossil fuel energy with a
high carbon content. Reducing coal consumption
has therefore become a focus of global
emissions-reduction cooperation.
Most European countries have begun to phase
out coal-fired power plants. Eurelectric—the
sector association for the European electricity
industry, which has around 3,500 member companies—and the European power industry will
not “invest in or construct new coal-fired power
plants after 2020”. This plan is supported by 26
EU member states. Leaders of EU countries
reached consensus in October 2014 regarding the
objective of “reducing greenhouse gas emissions
by 40% over 1990” and agreed to disinvest
gradually in the coal industry and end subsidies
for fossil energy. For example, France stopped
providing financial support for overseas-owned
coal-fired power plants without carbon capture
and sequestration in May 2015. Major financial
institutions no longer invest in coal mining
Special Report 4: China’s Energy System Revolution
473
efficiency of government regulation, prioritising
regulations for processes and activities like fair
market access, trading behaviour, natural
monopolies, taxes, pricing, safety and environmental protection, and combining legal tools,
administrative means, specifications and public
engagement to enable collaborative regulation.
To enable the market to play the decisive role
in resource allocation and the government to play
a more efficient role, those parts of existing laws
that are outdated or conflict with the oil and gas
sector or hinder its reform should be repealed or
modified to facilitate oil and gas mining rights
reform. For example, those parts not suitable for
a market system in the Mineral Resources Law of
the People’s Republic of China, the Rules for the
Implementation of the Mineral Resources Law
of the People’s Republic of China, the Regulations on Registering Mineral Resource
Exploitation, the Administrative Measures for the
Registration of Mineral Resource Exploration
Blocks, the Measures for the Registration
Administration of Mineral Resource Exploration,
the Environmental Protection Law of the People’s Republic of China and other laws and
regulations should be amended as soon as possible. In addition, it is suggested that the Oil Law
and Gas Law be studied and used as soon as
possible to: (i) standardise the business activities
of the companies and public bodies active in the
oil and gas sector; (ii) standardise the supervisory
and administrative activities of government and
the actions of other stakeholders; (iii) improve
the development, use and conservation of oil and
gas resources; and (iv) enable the healthy
development of the oil and gas sector and other
related sectors. The development of energy regulations should be completed as soon as possible
to define regulators’ roles, functions and
responsibilities, regulatory procedures and the
decision-making mechanism; standardise information disclosure and the dispute settlement
mechanism; and define the penalties for violations. All these actions will give legal support to
supervisory and regulatory work and help them
become authoritative.
6 Reforming the Coal Sector
6.1 Progress and Trends in Global
Coal Industry Reform
6.1.1 More and More Countries Have
Adopted a Coal Exit
Strategy
Reducing emissions from coal combustion has
become an important aspect of cooperative global governance. The international community has
maintained a high degree of unanimity regarding
the global fight against environmental pollution
and climate change. The Paris Agreement was
adopted with the unanimous agreement of 195
countries. The USA officially announced its
withdrawal from the Paris Agreement in June
2017 and submitted withdrawal documents to the
United Nations in August 2017, receiving
widespread criticism. Reducing pollutant emissions is an irreversible trend and an important
issue in global governance. The USA’s withdrawal has not yet had a material impact on
global emissions reduction and will not shake the
worldwide determination for global climate
governance or change the development course of
clean energy. Coal is a fossil fuel energy with a
high carbon content. Reducing coal consumption
has therefore become a focus of global
emissions-reduction cooperation.
Most European countries have begun to phase
out coal-fired power plants. Eurelectric—the
sector association for the European electricity
industry, which has around 3,500 member companies—and the European power industry will
not “invest in or construct new coal-fired power
plants after 2020”. This plan is supported by 26
EU member states. Leaders of EU countries
reached consensus in October 2014 regarding the
objective of “reducing greenhouse gas emissions
by 40% over 1990” and agreed to disinvest
gradually in the coal industry and end subsidies
for fossil energy. For example, France stopped
providing financial support for overseas-owned
coal-fired power plants without carbon capture
and sequestration in May 2015. Major financial
institutions no longer invest in coal mining
Special Report 4: China’s Energy System Revolution
473