China in a Decade: Transformation drives energy saving, consumption reduction

III. Steady growth of energy consumption with accelerated green and low-carbon transformation

Since the 18th Party Congress, China has dramatically expanded energy use, accelerated the large-scale and efficient use of natural gas in life-related scenarios, industries, power generation, and transportation and other fields, and vigorously developed non-fossil energy. China’s energy mix has been optimized, and green and low-carbon transformation has accelerated.

1. Steady growth of energy use

In 2021, energy use nationwide totaled 5.24 billion tons of standard coal, up 30.4% over 2012, supporting the average GDP growth of 6.6% with an average annual energy growth of 3.0%.

2.Accelerated promotion of clean and low-carbon energy use

In 2021, the share of coal in total energy use decreased from 68.5% in 2012 to 56.0%, down 12.5 percentage points; the share of oil increased from 17.0% to 18.5%, up 1.5 percentage points; the share of natural gas, hydro, nuclear, and other new energy sources increased significantly, and the share of natural gas increased from 4.8% to 8.9%, up 4.1 percentage points. The proportion of primary electricity and other energy sources rose from 9.7% to 16.6%, up 6.9 percentage points.

3. Per capita energy use continues to improve

In 2020, China’s per capita energy use hit 3,531 kg of standard coal, up 18.9% over 2012, with an average annual growth of 2.2%. In 2020, China’s per capita domestic energy use reached 456 kg of standard coal, up 46.2% over 2012 with an average annual growth of 4.9%; per capita domestic electricity consumption saw an average annual growth of 7.3%, per capita domestic liquefied petroleum gas consumption grew at an average of 6.7% annually, and per capita domestic natural gas consumption witnessed an average annual growth of 8.1%.