Exploring energy resilience in China’s energy law in the carbon neutrality era

Abstract

Through the lens of scholarly discussion on law, resilience, and adaptive capacity, this article critically discusses the extent to which energy law and governance in China has been steered towards better resilience. By looking at the laws and regulations in China’s electricity sector, this article argues that China’s efforts to create a more resilient and adaptive electric power system that can respond to disruptions is challenged by three key factors. The first of these is the historic focus in China on assuring adequate supplies of energy to support economic growth, an approach that relies more on the conventional aspect of the resilience theory, known as engineering resilience, rather than transformational resilience. The second factor is the multi-level and fragmented authoritarian governance structure in China’s energy sector that opens the door to local authorities and SOEs favouring especially coal generation and curtailing generation from renewable energy sources. Finally, the laws supporting the transition to a cleaner, lower carbon and more efficient energy system in China essential to transformational resilience need to be strictly enforced since the current enforcement regime has not achieved the desired result.