Energy Law of the People’s Republic of China — Full English Translation (2024)

Table of Contents

Chapter I — General Provisions

Article 1 — This Law is enacted in accordance with the Constitution for the purposes of promoting high-quality energy development, ensuring national energy security, facilitating green and low-carbon energy transition, advancing the construction of a socialist ecological civilization, and promoting sustainable economic and social development.

Article 2 — This Law shall apply to energy planning, development, utilization, market system construction, reserves and emergency response, science and technology innovation, supervision and administration, and other related activities within the territory of the People’s Republic of China and other sea areas under the jurisdiction of the People’s Republic of China.

Article 3 — Energy work shall adhere to the principles of giving priority to conservation, basing on domestic resources, pursuing diverse development, strengthening technological innovation, deepening reform and opening up, and promoting international cooperation.

Article 4 — The state shall implement an energy development strategy of giving priority to conservation in energy consumption, basing on domestic resources in energy supply, pursuing green and low-carbon transition in energy structure, and relying on innovation-driven development in energy technology.

Article 5 — The state shall establish a clean, low-carbon, safe and efficient modern energy system. Priority shall be given to the development and utilization of renewable energy, the safe and efficient utilization of nuclear energy, and the clean and efficient utilization of fossil energy.

Article 6 — The energy authorities under the State Council shall be responsible for the supervision and administration of energy work nationwide. The relevant departments under the State Council shall be responsible for energy supervision and administration within their respective areas of responsibility.

Article 7 — All entities and individuals shall have the obligation to conserve energy. The state shall encourage and support energy science and technology research, and the dissemination and application of advanced energy technologies.

Chapter II — Energy Planning

Article 8 — The state shall formulate a national comprehensive energy plan that is aligned with economic and social development plans, land and space planning, and ecological environmental protection planning.

Article 9 — Energy planning shall include comprehensive energy plans, specialized energy plans, and regional energy plans. Comprehensive plans shall guide specialized and regional plans.

Article 10 — Energy planning shall scientifically determine the objectives, tasks, layout, and key projects for energy development, and shall define measures for energy conservation, emission reduction, and environmental protection.

Article 11 — The formulation of energy plans shall comply with legally prescribed procedures, conduct thorough research and assessment, and solicit public opinions. Energy plans shall be subject to approval in accordance with law before implementation.

Article 12 — The implementation of energy plans shall be subject to monitoring and evaluation. Where adjustments are necessary, they shall be made in accordance with the original approval procedures.

Chapter III — Energy Development and Utilization

Article 13 — The state shall promote the optimization and adjustment of the energy consumption structure, encourage the use of renewable energy, and support the substitution of clean energy for fossil energy.

Article 14 — The state shall establish a target responsibility system and an assessment and evaluation system for the development and utilization of renewable energy, specifying the proportion of renewable energy in total energy consumption.

Article 15 — The state shall encourage and support the development and utilization of wind energy, solar energy, biomass energy, geothermal energy, ocean energy, and other renewable energy sources.

Article 16 — The state shall promote the safe and efficient development of nuclear energy under the precondition of ensuring safety, while maintaining an appropriate scale of nuclear power development.

Article 17 — The state shall promote the clean and efficient development and utilization of coal, and promote the clean and low-carbon transformation of coal-fired power.

Article 18 — The state shall strengthen the exploration and development of oil and natural gas resources, increase reserves and production, and promote the high-quality development of the oil and gas industry.

Article 19 — The state shall promote the construction of new power systems, developing a new type of power system that is clean and low-carbon, safe and abundant, economically efficient, supply-demand coordinated, and flexible and intelligent.

Article 20 — The state shall promote the development of hydrogen energy, energy storage, and other new energy technologies and industries.

Article 21 — The state shall promote comprehensive energy services, distributed energy, and integrated energy systems, improving overall energy efficiency.

Chapter IV — Energy Market System

Article 22 — The state shall establish and improve an energy market system that is unified and open, competitive and orderly, and complete in terms of institutional arrangements.

Article 23 — The state shall advance the reform of the energy pricing mechanism, allowing the market to play a decisive role in resource allocation and giving better play to the role of the government.

Article 24 — The state shall encourage and guide various types of capital to invest in energy development and utilization in accordance with law, and shall protect the lawful rights and interests of investors.

Article 25 — The state shall promote fair access to energy networks such as power grids and oil and gas pipeline networks, and shall provide non-discriminatory access services in accordance with law.

Article 26 — The state shall improve the energy trading market system, including the electricity trading market, carbon emission trading market, and green certificate trading market.

Article 27 — The state shall improve the energy statistics and information disclosure system, and shall regularly publish information on energy production, consumption, and market operations.

Chapter V — Energy Security and Reserves

Article 28 — The state shall establish an energy security reserve system, including energy product reserves and energy production capacity reserves.

Article 29 — The state shall establish energy strategic reserves and commercial reserves. Enterprises shall, in accordance with state provisions, maintain energy safety reserves to ensure supply stability.

Article 30 — The state shall establish an energy emergency response system, formulating emergency response plans, and establishing an early warning mechanism for energy supply security.

Article 31 — In the event of a severe shortage of energy supply or other emergency, the State Council or relevant authorities may take emergency measures in accordance with law to ensure the supply of energy essential for daily life.

Article 32 — The state shall strengthen the protection of energy infrastructure and ensure the safe and stable operation of energy facilities.

Chapter VI — Energy Science and Technology Innovation

Article 33 — The state shall formulate energy technology innovation policies, establish an energy science and technology innovation system, and promote breakthroughs in core energy technologies.

Article 34 — The state shall encourage and support enterprises, universities, and research institutions to conduct research on energy science and technology, and accelerate the commercial application of scientific and technological achievements.

Article 35 — The state shall support the research, development, and application of advanced energy technologies, including renewable energy, nuclear energy, hydrogen energy, energy storage, smart grids, and carbon capture, utilization, and storage.

Article 36 — The state shall establish energy standards systems and promote international mutual recognition of energy standards.

Chapter VII — Supervision and Administration

Article 37 — Energy authorities shall strengthen supervision and inspection of compliance with energy laws, regulations, and mandatory standards.

Article 38 — Energy authorities shall establish energy monitoring and early warning systems to monitor and analyze energy market operations and security conditions.

Article 39 — Energy authorities shall establish a credit regulatory system, strengthening credit management in the energy sector.

Article 40 — Any entity or individual shall have the right to report violations of energy laws and regulations. Energy authorities shall promptly investigate and handle such reports.

Chapter VIII — Legal Liability

Article 41 — Where energy authorities or other relevant departments fail to perform their energy supervision and administration duties in accordance with law, the directly responsible persons in charge and other directly responsible persons shall be subject to disciplinary sanctions.

Article 42 — Where an energy enterprise violates this Law by failing to maintain prescribed energy safety reserves or by refusing to provide fair access services, it shall be ordered to rectify and may be fined.

Article 43 — Where an act violates this Law and the circumstances constitute a crime, criminal liability shall be pursued in accordance with law.

Chapter IX — Supplementary Provisions

Article 44 — For purposes of this Law, energy includes coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear energy, hydropower, wind energy, solar energy, biomass energy, geothermal energy, ocean energy, and electricity, heating power, hydrogen energy, and other forms of energy derived directly or through processing and conversion.

Article 45 — This Law shall come into effect on January 1, 2025.