China announces first-ever energy consumption cap

China has released its first energy consumption cap, targeting 5 billion tons of standard coal equivalent by 2020, Reuters reported, citing figures from the latest five-year plan published on Saturday. Yang Fuqiang, senior adviser at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the 5 billion figure was calculated by combining China’s 6.5% economic growth projections for 2016-2020 with its target to cut energy intensity by 15% over the same period. “Based on my experience the government plans are conservative,” Yang said. “There could be a higher 18% cut in energy intensity, and that means energy consumption could be kept at about 4.8 billion tons.”