A reflective analysis of China's energy policy from the perspective of systemic energy justice principles

Abstract

The idea of energy justice has been reflected and implemented in China’s energy policy system over years. However, the existing normative basis of energy justice remains imperfect. China’s special political system and Confucian concept of justice, and its particular focus on energy security, have made its energy transition practices highly efficient but also prone to violating recognition, distributional and procedural justice, resulting in a victim structure that sacrifices the few for the well-being of the many. It is essential to introduce energy justice to achieve sustainable development of China’s energy system and policy transformation in the new era, as energy justice will provide insights for policy stakeholders regarding how to address complex and interrelated energy production and acquisition issues. In doing so, the first step is to comprehensively examine the existing energy injustice in China’s energy life cycle and then apply systemic energy justice to optimise China’s future energy policies. Specifically, policymakers should first reaffirm recognition justice by recognising energy rights, including the fundamental rights of energy vulnerable groups and the natural environment together with the rights of consumers as energy producers. Secondly, procedural justice should be strengthened from three perspectives, namely decision-making participation, information disclosure and judicial relief. Thirdly, distributive justice can be effectively promoted by establishing benefit-sharing mechanisms, setting fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory energy prices, and developing compensation mechanisms between regions.

Keywords:

• energy transition
• energy policy
• systemic energy justice
• adaptive governance

Acknowledgements

Both authors acknowledge their equal contribution to this article and share first authorship.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 See Clark A Miller, Alastair Iles and Christopher F Jones, ‘The Social Dimensions of Energy Transitions’ (2013) 22(2) Science as Culture 135, at 143

2 See Festus Boamah, David Aled Williams and Joana Afful, ‘Justifiable Energy Injustices? Exploring Institutionalised Corruption and Electricity Sector Problem-Solving in Ghana and Kenya’ (2021) 73 Energy Research & Social Science 101914

3 See Raisul Sourav, ‘In Quest of an Energy Justice Framework for Bangladesh’ (UN Chronicle) <www.un.org/en/chronicle/article/quest-energy-justice-framework-bangladesh> accessed 11 April 2024

4 See Gabriel Chan and Alexandra B Klass, ‘Regulating for Energy Justice’ (2022) 97(5) New York University Law Review 1426, at 1426

5 See Viviana Andrea Martinez and Olga Lucía Castillo, ‘The Political Ecology of Hydropower: Social Justice and Conflict in Colombian Hydroelectricity Development’ (2016) 22 Energy Research & Social Science 69

6 See Maria Tysiachniouka and others, ‘Oil and Indigenous People in Sub-Arctic Russia: Rethinking Equity and Governance in Benefit Sharing Agreements’ (2018) 37 Energy Research & Social Science 140

7 See Annika Carlsson-Kanyama, Isabel Ripa Juliá and Ulrike Roehr, ‘Unequal Representation of Women and Men in Energy Company Boards and Management Groups: Are there Implications for Mitigation? ’ (2010) 38(8) Energy Policy 4737

8 See Noel Healy and John Barry, ‘Politicizing Energy Justice and Energy System Transitions: Fossil Fuel Divestment and a “Just Transition”’ (2017) 108 Energy Policy 451, at 456

9 See Kirsten Jenkins and others, ‘Energy Justice: A Conceptual Review’ (2016) 11 Energy Research & Social Science 174, at 175

10 See Raphael Heffron and Darren McCauley, ‘The Concept of Energy Justice Across the Disciplines’ (2017) 105 Energy Policy 658, at 659

11 See Darren McCauley and others, ‘Advancing Energy Justice: The Triumvirate of Tenets’(2013) 32(3) International Energy Law Review 107

12 See Darren McCauley and Raphael Heffron, ‘Just Transition: Integrating Climate, Energy and Environmental Justice’ (2018) 119 Energy Policy 1

13 See M Lacey-Barnacle, R Robison and C Foulds, ‘Energy Justice in the Developing World: A Review of Theoretical Frameworks’ (2020) 55 Energy for Sustainable Development 122

14 See Kevin Lo, ‘Authoritarian Environmentalism, Just Transition, and the Tension between Environmental Protection and Social Justice in China's Forestry Reform’ (2021) 131 Forest Policy and Economics 102574

15 See Xiaofan Zhao, Liang Wu and Ye Qi, ‘The Energy Injustice of Hydro-Power: Development, Resettlement, and Social Exclusion at the Hongjiang and Wanmipo Hydro-Power Stations in China’ (2020) 62 Energy Research & Social Science 101366

16 See Zhanping Hu, ‘When Energy Justice Encounters Authoritarian Environmentalism: The Case of Clean Heating Energy Transitions in Rural China’ (2020) 70 Energy Research & Social Science 101771

17 See Kevin Lo, ‘Can Authoritarian Regimes Achieve Just Energy Transition? Evidence from China’s Solar Photovoltaic Poverty Alleviation Initiative’(2021) 82 Energy Research & Social Science 102315; Fang Yang and others, ‘Household Adoption Modes of Rooftop Photovoltaic in Rural China and Social Inequality: an Energy Justice Perspective’ (2023) 18 Sustainability Science 2077

18 See Xinxin Wang and Kevin Lo, ‘Civil Society, Environmental Litigation, and Confucian Energy Justice: A Case Study of an Environmental NGO in China’ (2022) 93 Energy Research & Social Science 102831

19 See Khurram Raza, ‘China’s Reform and Opening-Up Policy: A Successful Paradigm’ (China Daily, 2018) <www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201808/13/WS5b7100aaa310add14f3856e3.html> accessed 11 April 2024

20 See China's State Council Information Office, ‘Energy in China's New Era (White Paper)’ (Xinhua 2020) <https://english.www.gov.cn/archive/whitepaper/202012/21/content_WS5fe0572bc6d0f725769423cb.html> accessed 11 April 2024

21 See John Knight, ‘Report on the Recommendations of the Second Five-Year Plan for National Economic Development’ (1956) <www.gov.cn/zhengce/2021-12/15/5666300/files/e667d17af9334a36b54fe21454954314.pdf> accessed 11 April 2024; State Council, ‘The Fifth Five-Year Plans for National Economic and Social Development’ (1975) <www.ndrc.gov.cn/fggz/fzzlgh/gjfzgh/202112/P020211214371159347418.pdf> accessed 11 April 2024

22 See National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), ‘China Statistical Yearbook (1999)’, <www.stats.gov.cn/yearbook/indexC.htm> accessed 11 April 2024

23 See State Council, ‘The Sixth Five-Year Plans for National Economic and Social Development’ (1982) <www.ndrc.gov.cn/fggz/fzzlgh/gjfzgh/200709/P020191029595670483752.pdf> accessed 11 April 2024; State Council, ‘The Seventh Five-Year Plans for National Economic and Social Development’ (1986) <www.reformdata.org/2012/1205/21992.shtml> accessed 11 April 2024

24 See State Council, ‘The Eighth Five-Year Plans for National Economic and Social Development’ (1991) <www.hprc.org.cn/wxzl/wxysl/wnjj/dibagewnjh/200907/t20090729_3954125.html> accessed 11 April 2024

25 See NBS, ‘China Statistical Yearbook (1999)’ (n 22)

26 State Council, ‘The Ninth Five-Year Plans for National Economic and Social Development’ (1996) <http://hprc.cssn.cn/wxzl/wxysl/wnjj/dijiugewnjh/200907/t20090729_3954129.html> accessed 11 April 2024

27 See State Council, ‘The Tenth Five-Year Plans for National Economic and Social Development’ (2001) <www.gov.cn/gongbao/content/2001/content_60699.htm> accessed 11 April 2024; State Council, ‘The Eleventh Five-Year Plans for National Economic and Social Development’ (2006) <www.ndrc.gov.cn/xwdt/gdzt/ghjd/quanwen/> accessed 11 April 2024

28 See State Council, ‘The Twelfth Five-Year Plans for National Economic and Social Development’ (2011) <www.gov.cn/govweb/zhuanti/2011-03/16/content_2623428.htm> accessed 11 April 2024

29 See State Council, ‘The Thirteenth Five-Year Plans for National Economic and Social Development’ (2016) <www.npc.gov.cn/zgrdw/npc/dbdhhy/12_4/2016-03/18/content_1985670_10.htm> accessed 11 April 2024

30 See State Council, ‘The Fourteenth Five-Year Plans for National Economic and Social Development’ (2021) <www.gov.cn/xinwen/2021-03/13/content_5592681.htm?eqid=b5efe308001c3a2d000000046468d6f6> accessed 11 April 2024

31 See NBS, ‘National Statistical Yearbook (2022)’ <www.stats.gov.cn/sj/ndsj/2022/indexch.htm> accessed 11 April 2024.

32 Ibid

33 Ibid

34 See National Energy Administration, ‘National Renewable Power Development Monitoring and Evaluation Report 2022’ (2022) <http://zfxxgk.nea.gov.cn/2023-09/07/c_1310741874.htm> accessed 11 April 2024

35 See Aileen McHarg, ‘Energy Justice: Understanding the “Ethical Turn” in Energy Law and Policy’ in Iñigo del Guayo and others (eds), Energy Justice and Energy Law (OUP 2020), 15

36 See State Council, ‘The Sixth Five-Year Plans for National Economic and Social Development’ (n 23)

37 See State Council, ‘The Seventh Five-Year Plans for National Economic and Social Development’ (n 24)

38 See National Energy Administration, ‘The Eleventh Five-Year Plan for Energy Development’ (2007) <www.nea.gov.cn/2007-04/11/c_131215360.htm> accessed 11 April 2024; National Energy Administration, ‘The Twelfth Five-Year Plan for Energy Development’ (2013) <www.gov.cn/zwgk/2013-01/23/content_2318554.htm> accessed 11 April 2024

39 See National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration, ‘The Thirteenth Five-Year Plan for Energy Development’ (2016) <www.nea.gov.cn/135989417_14846217874961n.pdf> accessed 11 April 2024

40 See National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration, ‘The Fourteenth Five-Year Plan for Modern Energy System Development’ (2022) <www.nea.gov.cn/1310524241_16479412513081n.pdf> accessed 11 April 2024

41 See China's State Council Information Office, ‘China's Green Development in the New Era’ (Xinhua, 2023) <http://english.scio.gov.cn/whitepapers/2023-01/19/content_85067675.htm> accessed 11 April 2024

42 See Manuela Hartwig, Seita Emori and Shinichiro Asayama, ‘Normalized Injustices in the National Energy Discourse: A Critical Analysis of the Energy Policy Framework in Japan through the Three Tenets of Energy Justice’ (2023) 174 Energy Policy 113431, at 113433

43 See Ping Huang and Ying Liu, ‘Toward Just Energy Transitions in Authoritarian Regimes: Indirect Participation and Adaptive Governance’ (2021) 64(1) Journal of Environmental Planning and Management 1

44 See Raphael J Heffron and Louis De Fontenelle, ‘Implementing Energy Justice through a New Social Contract’ (2023) 41(2) Journal of Energy & Natural Resources Law 141

45 See Sara Fuller and Darren McCauley, ‘Framing Energy Justice: Perspectives from Activism and Advocacy’ (2016) 11 Energy Research & Social Science 1

46 See Healy and Barry (n 8) 451

47 Benjamin K Sovacool and Michael H Dworkin, ‘Energy Justice: Conceptual Insights and Practical Applications’ (2017) 142 Applied Energy 435

48 See Gordon Walker and Rosie Day, ‘Fuel Poverty as Injustice: Integrating Distribution, Recognition and Procedure in the Struggle for Affordable Warmth’ (2019) 49 Energy Policy 69

49 See Luis Mundaca, Henner Busch and Sophie Schwer, ‘Successful Low-Carbon Energy Transitions at the Community Level? An Energy Justice Perspective’ (2018) 218 Applied Energy 292

50 See Nynke van Uffelen, ‘Revisiting Recognition in Energy Justice’ (2022) 92 Energy Research & Social Science 102764, at 102770

51 See Hu (n 16)

52 See Wang and Lo (n 18)

53 See Johannes Urpelainen, ‘RISE to the Occasion? A Critique of the World Bank’s Regulatory Indicators for Sustainable Energy’ (2018) 39 Energy Research & Social Science 69

54 See Paul Munro, Greg van der Horst and Stephen Heal, ‘Energy Justice for All? Rethinking Sustainable Development Goal 7 through Struggles over Traditional Energy Practices in Sierra Leone’ (2017) 105 Energy Policy 635, at 640

55 See Komali Yenneti and Rosie Day, ‘Procedural (In)justice in the Implementation of Solar Energy: The Case of Charanaka Solar Park, Gujarat, India’ (2015) 86 Energy Policy 664, at 672

56 See Vanesa Castán Broto and others, ‘Energy Justice and Sustainability Transitions in Mozambique’ (2018) 228 Applied Energy 645, at 654

57 See Genia Kostka and Jonas Nahm, ‘Central–Local Relations: Re-centralization and Environmental Governance in China’ (2017) 231 The China Quarterly 567, at 570

58 See Global Energy Monitor, ‘Scraping by Global Coal Miners and the Urgency of a Just Transition’ (2023) <https://globalenergymonitor.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/GEM_Coal_Mine_Employment_2023.pdf> accessed 11 April 2024

59 See Chen Hui and others, ‘Research on the Carbon Transfer and Carbon Equity at Provincial Level of China Based on MRIO Model of 31 Provinces’ (2020) 40 (12) China Environmental Science 5540

60 See Chen Wenchao and others, ‘Benefit-Sharing in Hydro-Power Projects: A Mathematical Model Based on Dynamic Rate’ (2017) 57(7) Journal of Tsinghua University (Science and Technology) 732

61 See Zhao, Wu and Qi (n 15)

62 See Laëtitia Guilhot, ‘An Analysis of China’s Energy Policy from 1981 to 2020: Transitioning towards to a Diversified and Low-Carbon Energy System’ (2022) 162 Energy Policy 112806, at 112814

63 See Yao Jinnan, ‘Henan Shangqiu Emergency Corrective New Energy Development New Rules’ (China Energy News, 2021) <http://paper.people.com.cn/zgnyb/html/2021-11/29/content_25891397.htm> accessed 4 November 2023

64 See Zhao, Wu and Qi (n 15), 11

65 See China Electricity Council, ‘National Electric Reliability Indicators for FY2022’ (2023) <https://fgw.hubei.gov.cn/fbjd/xxgkml/jgzn/wgdw/nyj/dljsc/gzdt/202310/t20231009_4881860.shtml> accessed 11 April 2024

66 See National Development and Reform Commission and National Energy Administration, ‘Notice on the Weighting of Responsibility for Renewable Energy Electricity Consumption in 2023 and Related Matters’ (2023) <www.ndrc.gov.cn/xwdt/tzgg/202308/P020230804326090064576.pdf> accessed 11 April 2024

67 See Hao Zhang, ‘Exploring Energy Resilience in China’s Energy Law in the Carbon Neutrality Era’ (2022) 30(1) Asia Pacific Law Review 167; National Energy Agency, ‘Supervision Report on Electricity Dispatch for Energy Efficiency and Emissions Reduction (2015)’ <http://zfxxgk.nea.gov.cn/auto92/201506/t20150612_1937.htm> accessed 4 November 2023

68 See Hu (n 16)

69 See Yang and others (n 17), 2078

70 See Ping Huang and others, ‘The Governance of Urban Energy Transitions: A Comparative Study of Solar Water Heating Systems in two Chinese Cities’ (2018) 180 Journal of Cleaner Production 222

71 See Huang and Yig Liu (n 43), 13

72 See Jinnan (n 63)

73 See Chan and Klass (n 4), 1505

74 See Nancy Fraser, ‘Rethinking Recognition’ (2000) 3(3) New Left Review 107, at 113

75 See Jenkins and others (n 9), 175

76 Ibid, 177

77 See Hu (n 16)

78 See van Uffelen (n 50), 102770

79 See Olasupo Owoeye, ‘Access to Energy in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Human Rights Approach to the Climate Change Benefits of Energy Access’ (2016) 18(4) Environmental Law Review 284

80 See Thoko Kaime and Godswill Agbaitoro, ‘An Energy Justice Approach to Resolving the Conflict between the Development of Energy Access Projects and Human Rights Risks and Violations in Africa: Can a Balance Be Struck?’ (2022) 3(1) Global Energy Law and Sustainability 39, at 51–60

81 See Carmen G Gonzalez, ‘Environmental Justice, Human Rights, and the Global South’ (2015) 13(1) Santa Clara Journal of International Law 151, at 157

82 See Kaisa Huhta, ‘Conceptualising Energy Justice in the Context of Human Rights Law’ (2023) 41(4) Nordic Journal of Human Rights 378, at 390

83 See Godswill A Agbaitoro and Kester I Oyibo, ‘Realizing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 7 and 13 in Sub-Saharan Africa by 2030: Synergizing Energy and Climate Justice Perspectives’ (2022) 15 Journal of World Energy Law and Business 223, at 234

84 See Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh, ‘A Human Rights Approach to Energy: Realizing the Rights of Billions within Ecological Limits’ (2022) 31(1) Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law 16, at 25

85 See Heffron and De Fontenelle (n 44), 152

86 See Lo, ‘Can Authoritarian Regimes Achieve Just Energy Transition?’ (n 17)

87 See Charles R Warren and Malcolm McFadyen, ‘Does Community Ownership Affect Public Attitudes to Wind Energy? A Case Study from South-West Scotland’ (2010) 27(2) Land Use Policy 204

88 See Lo, ‘Can Authoritarian Regimes Achieve Just Energy Transition?’ (n 17)

89 See Wang and Lo (n 18)

90 See Hu (n 16)

91 See Lacey-Barnacle, Robison and Foulds (n 13), 133

92 See Chan and Klass (n 4), 1448