Deepen understanding, explore paths, and promote the high-quality development of clean energy

The Central Economic Work Conference made arrangements for further promoting the construction of ecological civilization and green and low-carbon development, requiring "accelerating the construction of a new energy system, strengthening resource conservation, intensive recycling and efficient utilization, and improving the ability to ensure the security of energy resources".practiceNear-flatGeneral Secretary of the 12th Collective Study of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committeepracticestressed that energy security is related to the overall economic and social development. Actively developing clean energy and promoting green and low-carbon economic and social transformation have become the general consensus of the international community to respond to global climate change. Clean energy is the cornerstone of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and plays an irreplaceable fundamental role in the development and progress of human civilization. Deepening the understanding of clean energy and exploring the path of high-quality development of clean energy is of great significance for strengthening the construction of ecological civilization, promoting the green and low-carbon transformation of the economy and society, and actively and steadily promoting carbon peak and carbon neutrality.

The development of clean energy is an objective requirement

In people's perception, clean energy is an energy source that is environmentally friendly, has low carbon emissions, and has a low degree of pollution, but this is only a description of the results of energy use, not the nature of energy. Clean energy and traditional fossil energy are not relative concepts, and there is an intersection in the connotation of the two. Generally speaking, clean energy should include three meanings: first, renewable energy with zero carbon emissions and no material consumption, such as hydropower, wind power, photovoltaic, tidal energy, geothermal energy, etc., second, new energy sources with zero carbon emissions but material consumption and waste disposal, such as nuclear energy, and third, clean use of traditional fossil energy, such as clean coal, clean oil, and natural gas with low carbon emissions after purification. The development of clean energy is an objective requirement for the green and low-carbon transformation of the economy and society.

From the perspective of theoretical logic, the proposal of "actively developing clean energy and promoting the green and low-carbon transformation of the economy and society" is not only the inheritance and development of Marxist ecological thought, but also the expansion and extension of Marxist theory of productive forces. From the perspective of Marxist ecological thought, human society contains the basic relationship of the relationship between man and nature and the relationship between man and man. At present, the international community generally believes that excessive carbon dioxide emissions are the main cause of climate change, and greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide emitted by human activities cause global warming. The ecological nature of energy means that the green transformation needs to be driven by a clean and integrated energy system. Emphasizing "promoting the green and low-carbon transformation of the economy and society" is to promote the harmonious coexistence of man and nature. From the perspective of Marxist productivity theory, clean energy will inevitably become an alternative to traditional chemical fuels. According to Marx's exposition, the productive forces can be divided into natural productive forces and social productive forces, and the two penetrate and intertwine with each other, constituting the entire process of the development of the productive forces. On the one hand, natural productivity always changes with the evolution of social and historical stages, and clean energy has the characteristics of renewability, cleanliness and sharing compared with traditional chemical fuels, which can not only solve the lack of traditional energy resources in quantity, but also protect the natural environment on the basis of substitution. On the other hand, natural resources enter the modern production process as a factor in the labor process, and they are exploited and utilized through labor, and eventually become an intrinsic factor in the development of productive forces.practiceNear-flatThe general secretary put forward the thesis that "protecting the ecological environment is to protect the productive forces, and improving the ecological environment is to develop the productive forces," which enriched the Marxist theory of productive forces. In today's world, many countries are vigorously promoting energy transition, and the substitution of clean energy for traditional chemical fuels is also the inevitable result of the further development of social productivity.

From the perspective of historical logic, the cleaner energy is a historical necessity for mankind to achieve sustainable development. It can be said that the previous industrial revolutions are also the convergence of technological revolutions, manufacturing revolutions and energy revolutions. Generally speaking, a new industrial revolution often starts with a revolutionary breakthrough in new technologies, and then through the manufacturing revolution to make the application and diffusion of technology in the industrial sector, and through the energy revolution to make production gain new impetus. Energy runs through the development process of human society, and according to the different dominant energy sources, the world's energy history roughly follows the evolution of "firewood energy→ peat energy→ coal energy→ oil and gas energy, →clean energy". With the continuous increase of fossil energy consumption in the world, the impact of fossil energy on environmental pollution and global climate is becoming increasingly serious, and vigorously developing clean energy has become a global consensus. It can be said that the global energy strategy and supply and demand pattern have entered a period of deep adjustment and change, and the construction of a clean, low-carbon, safe and efficient energy system with clean energy as the main body has become an inevitable trend of a new round of energy revolution.

From the perspective of practical logic, the development of clean energy and the realization of green and low-carbon transformation have become the general trend. According to the International Energy Agency, the global clean energy industry has entered a period of rapid development. The focus of energy strategies is shifting from energy ownership to clean energy utilization, and clean energy development has been regarded as a key pillar for countries to achieve carbon neutrality. In recent years, driven by policy support and continuous cost reduction, the global deployment of clean energy has accelerated, and breakthroughs have been made in some key technologies.

The transition to clean energy is systems engineering

China is the world's largest wind energy market and hydrogen producer, with outstanding performance in the growth contribution of solar photovoltaic power generation, the continuous and rapid growth of lithium battery production, the development and utilization scale of the clean energy industry ranks among the top in the world, the upstream, middle and downstream of the industrial chain have significant advantages, the energy transformation has achieved remarkable results, and the rapid development of clean energy. In the future, it is necessary to further promote the high-quality development of clean energy and provide strong energy support for the green and low-carbon transformation of the economy and society.

The resource and industrial attributes of energy determine that energy is the material basis of industrial production activities. The modern industrial system will inevitably rely on a clean and efficient new energy system to promote the green transformation of the manufacturing industry. The transition from traditional fossil energy to clean energy is a complex system project, which is not only related to changes in the energy system, but also leads to profound changes in the economic, social, and environmental systems.

Promote the optimization of the entire industrial chain of the clean energy industry. The clean energy industry is a key industry related to the green and low-carbon transformation of China's economy and society, and it is necessary to promote the high-quality development of the industrial chain. At present, although China's clean energy industry is in a leading position in terms of production capacity, it is still mainly focused on technological innovation related to production processes, and technological innovation in advanced materials and structures is relatively limited, and some core production equipment still needs to be imported. In the industrial chain, there is still a significant gap between China's leading enterprises and international giants in terms of patent research and development strength. Therefore, it is necessary to start from all aspects of the whole industrial chain of "R&D-production-consumption", formulate effective policies and incentives to help enterprises reduce costs, expand investment, improve their initiative and enthusiasm to actively promote green and low-carbon transformation, and rely on the advantages of China's super-large-scale market and the whole industrial chain of manufacturing to continuously promote the upgrading and innovation of clean energy technology.

Build a safe, stable and diversified clean energy supply system. Due to the technical shortcomings of renewable energy that are intermittent, not stable and not controllable, no country chooses to "uproot" the energy alternative method at one time, but "first establish and then break". The energy transition should adhere to the bottom line of energy supply, take into account the energy supply capacity and energy demand level, based on the resource endowment, adhere to the principle of establishing first and then breaking down, and make a comprehensive plan. At present, China should also play the role of coal and coal-fired power to ensure the energy demand for economic and social development. Practice has proved that the implementation of energy diversification strategy is conducive to the stability and security of the energy system.

Accelerate technological innovation in the field of clean energy. Advances in clean energy technology are key to the success or failure of the energy transition. There are two categories of clean energy technologies. One is enhanced energy technology, such as the unconventional energy development represented by shale gas in the United States, which regulates the supply and demand relationship between various actors in the oil and gas era, and the other is disruptive technological innovation, such as oil processing and utilization technology, renewable energy technology, and small-scale controllable nuclear fusion technology. Disruptive technological innovation has become the focus of the geopolitical game of energy transition in major countries. In recent years, the number of invention patents for green and low-carbon technologies in the field of hydrogen energy, energy storage technology, power-saving technology, fuel-saving technology and other fields has grown rapidly. However, core clean energy and energy-saving and emission reduction technologies are still concentrated in a few developed countries, and some countries also attach great importance to strengthening the whole chain of technology reserves, and have strong technical advantages in carbon capture and carbon sequestration. In the future, China will strengthen the research and development of key common technologies and cutting-edge disruptive technologies through the establishment of clean energy laboratories, so as to realize the independence and controllability of key core technologies of photovoltaic, wind power and nuclear power.

Enhance China's international discourse in the field of clean energy. The energy transition will reshape the global energy power structure and the world energy market order, which is closely related to the development of energy standards. International standards in the field of clean energy are established by two international organizations, the International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission, and regional organizations and non-governmental organizations also participate in the formulation and promotion of standards. Although the scale of development and utilization of China's clean energy industry is very large, its voice and influence in the formulation of international standards are relatively lagging behind. In order to enhance China's voice in the field of clean energy, we should focus on the following aspects. The first is to expand the scope of international standardization exchanges and cooperation. By strengthening liaison and communication with regional standardization organizations and deepening cooperation, we will enhance China's voice in standard formulation. The second is to encourage first-class enterprises to combine technological innovation with standard creation. Research shows that the formation of international standards in the energy sector generally comes first from corporate proposals. Therefore, in the field of clean energy, in the face of the competitive trend of "technology patenting, patent standardization, and standard globalization" of Western multinational companies, China's clean energy enterprises should combine technological innovation with standard creation, vigorously promote independent innovation and original innovation, and increase the research and creation of international standards, so as to occupy a dominant position in the global clean energy industry chain.

The author is the Party School of the CPC Central Committee (National Academy of Administration)practiceNear-flatResearcher at the Research Center for Socialism with Chinese Characteristics in the New Era