(China Daily)
Updated: 2007-11-14 07:17

Mainstream opinions from researchers and legal experts calling for the establishment of a new government body on energy management is picking up steam as the country quickens its pace to draft a new law on energy.

The legislative effort, together with the amendment to the Law on Conserving Energy adopted last month, mark the country's newly found acumen in regulating energy issues in the light of promoting sustainable development and environment conservation.

Both laws need stronger political will and muscle for implementation. Hence, how to improve the country's current management regime on energy has become an issue of concern.

Given that the functions on energy consumption and energy saving are now divided among more than 10 ministries and ministry-level State companies, unified management could be a better choice for the country.

It will contribute to improving energy management efficiency and better steering the country to reach its goals for energy saving.

The new government body in discussion, either in the name of a ministry or a committee, could also serve as a much more solid and bigger platform for the country to participate in international cooperation on energy issues.

Such cooperation has become increasingly urgent as the country is struggling to cut energy consumption while maintaining high-speed economic development which will inevitably push up demands for energy.

The warning given by the International Energy Agency last week that China would double energy consumption by 2030 proved the domestic cry for a unified energy management to be well grounded.

However, to translate something that exists in theory to reality could be tricky. This is especially true as previous attempts in this regard has proved to be nothing but a bitter memory.

In the late 1980s and amid the heyday of government restructuring, the country used to have a ministry of energy that turned out to be short-lived as it was strongly opposed by ministers from ministries to be dissolved and merged into the new one.

Today, similar barriers may have only grown stronger. How to balance the interests of different parties could be more difficult than reaching consensus at the technical or academic level if the rebirth of a new government body on energy comes to fruition.

(China Daily 11/14/2007 page10)