The Contributions and Challenges of China’s Rural Energy Transition

¹ Key Laboratory of Clean Production and Utilization of Renewable Energy, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, China, Beijing 100083, China
² National Center for International Research of BioEnergy Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Beijing 100083, China
³ Yantai Institute, China Agricultural University, No. 2006 Binhai Zhonglu, Laishan District, Yantai, Shandong Province 264670, China
⁴ Carbon-Neutral Agriculture Research Center of CAU College of Engineering, Beijing 100083, China

^* Corresponding author: zhouyg@cau.edu.com

Abstract

After several stages of development, China has made great achievements in rural energy. However, the low-efficiency and high-pollution solid fuels that characterize the main source of energy consumption in rural areas remain unchanged. Under the constraints of achieving the carbon neutrality goal in 2060, the existing energy system needs to be transformed to create a sustainable energy system in order to further enhance the economy of rural areas in China. To accelerate the transition of rural energy, this paper answers the following questions based on rural energy consumption characteristics and policies, literature analysis: Why is the rural energy transition important for China at national and rural levels? How the rural energy transition can contribute to the development of rural areas? What are the challenges to implementing the rural energy transition? The paper concludes that China’s rural areas can achieve both economic and ecological development through rational use of its vast space and natural resources, which will be valued upwards of 450 billion CNY and 800 Mt CO_2eq respectively. Rural energy transition will face a number of challenges from infrastructure, socio-cultural, and program development. Accordingly, Therefore, there is a need to strengthen infrastructure, raise public awareness and deepen the tripartite cooperation between government, enterprises and farmers to deal with the above problems.