Transformation of China's energy sector: trends and challenges

Abstract

The conclusions presented here sum up the contributions in the Special Issue regarding the managing of China's energy sector, particularly regarding the demand and profile of energy as well as the marketization of the sector. Strategic, organizational and policy issues relevant to the main theme are set out. Both demand and supply scenarios for the nation's energy are seen as in flux, as the economy slackens and dependence on imports rises. Unprecedented levels of urban environmental pollution and steady growth of energy consumption in the wake of a rising living standard have brought the issue to headline-prominence as never before. China's rapidly increasing renewable energy will not change its heavy reliance on coal and a lesser extent oil in the coming decade. After decades of transformation, China's energy sector now operates in a domestic market characterized by strong governmental influence and monopolistic state firms. Abroad, China's firms are exposed to heavier market pressure and competition. While the state's policies have succeeded in ensuring energy supplies and propelling China's renewable energy manufacturers into global prominence and opening up domestic market, much room for improvement exists in the competitiveness of the domestic market and domestic energy firms, transparency of pricing and the effectiveness of regulation.

Keywords::

• Asia
• China
• economics
• energy
• environment
• pollution
• PRC

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Hongyi Lai

Hongyi Lai is an Associate Professor at the School of Contemporary Chinese Studies, University of Nottingham, UK. His research and multiple journal articles cover China's national and local reform strategies, regional development in China, as well as China's oil diplomacy and the internationalization of its energy firms. His books relate to China's political economy including Asian Energy Security: The Maritime Dimension (London: Palgrave-MacMillan, 2009) and Reform and the Non-State Economy in China (London: Palgrave-MacMillan, 2006).

Malcolm Warner

Malcolm Warner is a Professor and Fellow Emeritus, Wolfson College, Cambridge and Judge Business School, University of Cambridge. He has been the Editor-in-Chief, of the International Encyclopedia of Business and Management [IEBM], 8 volumes (London: Thomson, 2002) and the author/editor of many books and articles on China. His latest work has recently been published: Understanding management in China: Past, present and future, (London and New York, NY: Routledge, 2014). He is currently the Co-Editor of the Asia Pacific Business Review.