On the afternoon of May 30, the Department of Environmental Protection and Resource Conservation of the National Development and Reform Commission convened a symposium with representatives from several provinces and cities to review progress in achieving energy-saving targets for the 14th Five-Year Plan, analyze the current situation, and discuss and plan key tasks for the next phase. The meeting was chaired by Liu Dechun, Director of the Department of Environmental Protection and Resource Conservation. Officials from the energy conservation authorities of Zhejiang, Henan, Hubei, Guangdong, Chongqing, Yunnan, Shaanxi, Gansu, and Qinghai attended the meeting and provided updates on relevant developments.
　　The meeting emphasized the need to earnestly implement the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, vigorously carry out energy-saving, carbon-reduction, and efficiency-enhancing initiatives, and effectively perform energy-saving work during the second half of the 14th Five-Year Plan period. First, we must closely monitor the energy-saving targets and tasks set forth in the 14th Five-Year Plan. We should squarely face the issue that progress toward achieving energy-saving targets in some regions has fallen short of expectations, conduct a thorough mid-term evaluation of energy-saving efforts under the 14th Five-Year Plan, systematically review progress by region and industry, identify problems clearly, pinpoint their root causes, and adopt targeted and effective measures accordingly. Second, we must promote energy saving and carbon reduction in key sectors. We should carry out benchmarking and compliance with energy-efficiency standards, tap into untapped energy-saving potential, and drive energy-saving and carbon-reduction upgrades in industries such as coal-fired power, steel, nonferrous metals, petrochemicals, chemicals, and building materials. We should also implement the renewal and upgrading of equipment including boilers, motors, transformers, refrigeration systems, lighting, and household appliances. We must rigorously enforce energy-saving review procedures, strictly control the energy efficiency of newly approved projects, and firmly curb the blind development of “high-energy consumption, high-carbon emissions, and low-efficiency” projects. We should vigorously advance energy-saving renovations of buildings and heat metering systems. We must strictly enforce energy-saving and consumption-reduction measures for large public buildings and transportation infrastructure, and reduce energy waste in public institutions. Third, we must enhance the management level of energy conservation. We should strengthen energy-management practices at key energy-consuming units, implement energy-conservation inspections and diagnostics, and conduct comprehensive surveys of energy efficiency in key enterprises and equipment. We should organize major energy-saving and carbon-reduction projects and increase support for them. We must reinforce the updating and implementation of energy-efficiency standards, and accelerate the research, development, and promotion of advanced technologies for energy conservation and carbon reduction. Fourth, we must strengthen energy-security guarantees for high-quality development. We must effectively implement policies exempting raw-material energy use and renewable-energy consumption from total energy-consumption and intensity controls, while focusing on controlling fossil-energy consumption. We should coordinate regional energy supply and demand, explore energy-budget management approaches, and resolutely prevent the misuse of energy conservation and “dual-carbon” goals to justify power cuts and restrictions.