China sets the upper limit of energy consumption for the first time

In its "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" announced on Saturday, China stated that China intends to control its energy consumption within 5 billion tons of standard coal equivalent by 2020, marking the first time that the world's second-largest economy has set such a goal.

China has long been considering an energy cap to increase industrial efficiency, address smog and control the world's highest greenhouse gas emissions.

According to the latest statistics from the National Statistics Department, China’s total energy consumption in 2015 was 4.3 billion tons of standard coal equivalent, an increase of 0.9% from 2014.

The National Development and Reform Commission promised to limit the growth of coal production and coal-fired power generation this year.

In the five years from 2016 to 2020, China will reduce the amount of energy used per unit of GDP growth by 15% and the carbon intensity will be reduced by 18% during this period.

As part of its commitment to global climate change, China has pledged to reduce carbon intensity by 40% to 50% below 2015 levels by 2020.