Energy management and environmental awareness in Chinaʹs enterprises

By virtue of the countryʹs size, population and heavy dependance on coal, Chinaʹs situation should be of particular interest to all with a concern both for energy conservation and the environment. Efforts to conserve energy in Chinaʹs enterprises must be carried on alongside rapid development and the transition from a command economy to a more hybrid `market socialist’ economy. This transition may in the longer term offer opportunities for energy conservation, but in the meanwhile can be seen as imposing constraints. This paper is the result of field work undertaken in China over the period 1994–1997. The paper begins by outlining the contradictory context for energy conservation in China — the international concern about climate change and acid rain, and the domestic imperatives of modernization and transformation of the economy. Then, setting out briefly the position with regard to energy supply and consumption, and measures for conservation and enforcement, it reports the views of managers at three important industrial plants on energy and related environmental matters, and more generally of some of the most senior officials and experts in China concerned with forming policy on energy conservation in Chinaʹs enterprises. Because little is known of the views of such practitioners outside China, these views are presented in some detail, and analyzed against the background of the broader changes taking place in China today. The paper concludes with a number of specific recommendations to aid progress on conservation, as they have been put forward by Chinese experts.