The "Energy-Efficient Products Benefiting the People Project" Has Achieved Remarkable Results
Using fiscal subsidies to guide the consumption of energy-efficient products is both an effective means of energy conservation and emission reduction and an important lever for expanding domestic demand. Since 2007, we have successively launched subsidy and promotion programs for high-efficiency lighting products, high-efficiency energy-saving air conditioners, flat-panel televisions, computers, as well as motors, fans, water pumps, automobiles, and other products. Currently, a promotion system for the "Energy-Efficient Products Benefiting the People Project" has been formed, covering 3 major categories (home appliances, automobiles, and industrial products), 15 varieties, and hundreds of thousands of models. Cumulative central fiscal funds exceeding 40 billion yuan have been allocated, and more than 20 implementation rules have been issued, making it an important policy platform for "stabilizing growth, expanding consumption, promoting energy conservation, and benefiting people's livelihood."
I. The Promotion of Energy-Saving Products Is of Great Significance
In recent years, we have regarded the continuous expansion of the consumption of energy-saving and environmental protection products as an important measure to promote energy conservation and emission reduction, and to expand consumption. During the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan" period, continuing to carry out in depth the "Energy-Efficient Products Benefiting the People Project" is of great significance for accelerating the transformation and upgrading of China's economic structure, achieving steady and rapid economic development, and building a resource-conserving and environment-friendly society.
First, expanding domestic demand, particularly consumer demand, is an effective approach to stabilizing growth at present. Supporting the promotion of energy-saving products through fiscal subsidies is a major initiative launched by the Party Central Committee and the State Council in light of the prevailing situation, combining steady growth, expansion of domestic demand, and energy conservation and emission reduction. It represents an important institutional innovation in fiscal policy aimed at promoting consumption expansion, and expanding the consumption of energy-saving products is of great significance at present. As a major producer and consumer of automobiles, home appliances, and other products, China is implementing the "Energy-Saving Products Benefiting the People Project" and promoting high-efficiency energy-saving products. This helps effectively transform residents' consumption potential into real consumer demand. Through market guidance and consumption-driven approaches, the market share of energy-saving home appliances, energy-saving automobiles, and other products will be significantly increased, effectively overcoming a series of difficulties such as sluggish domestic sales and sharp inventory build-up, thereby promoting economic growth and gradually establishing a long-term mechanism for driving consumer demand through energy-saving and environmentally friendly products.
Second, it is conducive to promoting technological progress and driving industrial upgrading. Emerging industries such as energy conservation and environmental protection have become new economic growth drivers and strategic commanding heights for adjustment. Whoever grasps this commanding height may lead the trend of future industrial development. Adopting the approach of providing fiscal subsidies to consumers can effectively reduce the obstacles facing the promotion of energy-saving products, such as relatively high costs, unregulated markets, and low social awareness, and has promoted the improvement and upgrading of the technical environment of industries such as energy efficiency standards. At the same time, accelerating the promotion of high-efficiency energy-saving products helps drive the research, development, and innovation of related energy-saving technologies, continuously enhance the core competitiveness of the industry, and foster the development of strategic emerging industries such as energy conservation and environmental protection.
Third, it is conducive to accelerating the building of a resource-saving and environment-friendly society. At present, as a large populous country undergoing rapid urbanization and modernization, China's penetration and use of household appliances, industrial equipment, office equipment, and transportation vehicles are rapidly increasing, with a huge total energy consumption. However, the domestic market share of high-efficiency energy-saving products in China is notably low, and the average energy utilization efficiency of end-use energy-consuming products such as home appliances is only slightly higher than the level of developed countries in the early 1970s-1980s. Faced with increasingly intensified resource and environmental constraints, implementing the "Energy-Saving Products Benefiting the People Project" helps improve the energy efficiency level of end-use energy-consuming products, promote the replacement of inefficient products with high-efficiency energy-saving products, tap into social energy-saving potential, and promote energy conservation and emission reduction. It helps foster a positive social atmosphere in which enterprises produce, consumers purchase, and the whole society embraces high-efficiency energy-saving products, and raises the awareness of energy conservation and emission reduction throughout society. It also helps promote the accelerated establishment of resource-saving and environment-friendly production and consumption patterns in China and enhances sustainable development capacity.
II. Significant Results in the Promotion of Energy-Saving Products
(I) Promotion of Energy-Saving Home Appliances
China is a major producer and consumer of home appliances. According to relevant statistics, the annual electricity consumption of home appliances in China exceeds 450 billion kWh, accounting for 80% of total residential electricity consumption. Especially as China enters a period of comprehensively building a moderately prosperous society, accelerating urbanization, and rapidly upgrading urban and rural consumption, the consumption potential of energy-saving home appliances will be further unleashed. In 2007, the central government began by promoting high-efficiency lighting products, supporting the replacement of incandescent lamps with high-efficiency lighting products. Bulk users were subsidized at 30% of the supply price under the winning bid agreement, while urban and rural residential users were subsidized at 50% of the supply price under the winning bid agreement. By 2012, nearly 4.157 billion yuan in funds had been cumulatively arranged, supporting the promotion of 655 million high-efficiency lighting products, directly stimulating domestic demand by 8 billion yuan, and achieving annual electricity savings of 18.5 billion kWh.
To further leverage the effects of the policy, from June 2009 to May 2011, high-efficiency fixed-frequency air conditioners with energy efficiency ratings of Grade 2 and above were included in the scope of promotion subsidies. The central government set corresponding subsidy standards based on different cooling capacities and energy efficiency ratings, with the subsidy standard for each energy-saving air conditioner ranging from 150 to 250 yuan. Over the two-year period, the central government cumulatively arranged subsidy funds of 14.643 billion yuan, promoted more than 50 million high-efficiency fixed-frequency air conditioners, directly stimulated consumption by more than 150 billion yuan, achieved annual electricity savings of 10 billion kWh, and electricity savings of 80 billion to 100 billion kWh during the product lifespan. The market share of high-efficiency energy-saving air conditioners rose from 5% before promotion to over 70%, and the price of high-efficiency energy-saving air conditioners dropped from 3,000 to 4,000 yuan before promotion to around 2,000 yuan.
In 2012, affected by the complex international and domestic situation, in accordance with the decisions of the 203rd and 204th Executive Meetings of the State Council, we, together with the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, successively included products such as air conditioners, flat-panel televisions, refrigerators, washing machines, water heaters, unitary air conditioners and water chillers, and desktop microcomputers into the scope of energy-saving product promotion.
From June 2012 to the end of 2012, the central government had cumulatively arranged subsidy funds of 7.616 billion yuan, supporting the promotion of more than 32.73 million home appliances of various types, and had included more than 30,890 models from 425 enterprises in the promotion catalog. From statistics, the policy effects of expanding consumption of energy-saving home appliances have already emerged: First, consumption of energy-saving home appliances has stabilized and rebounded. Comparing January-May before the policy was introduced with the same period last year, sales of flat-panel televisions, air conditioners, refrigerators, and washing machines decreased by 20%, 30%, 19%, and 17% respectively. By October of this year, except for refrigerators whose sales still declined slightly, the other three categories of home appliances increased by 13%, 1%, and 3% respectively compared with the same period last year. Based on the more than 15 million high-efficiency energy-saving home appliances already sold, domestic consumption was stimulated by 60 billion yuan. Second, the market share of energy-saving home appliances has greatly increased. The market share of high-efficiency energy-saving air conditioners rose from 17% in June to the current 45%, flat-panel televisions rose from 38% to 92%, and the market share of refrigerators, washing machines, and water heaters also achieved substantial increases. Third, the product structure has been further optimized. For example, the production proportion of high-efficiency energy-saving flat-panel televisions at a certain flat-panel TV enterprise was still less than 50% in May of this year, but by November, the production proportion of high-efficiency energy-saving products had approached 100%; the production proportion of high-efficiency energy-saving air conditioners at a certain air conditioner manufacturer rose from approximately 15% in May to over 70% in November. Fourth, the effects of energy saving and emission reduction are obvious. Based on the more than 26 million energy-saving home appliances that have been promoted, more than 3 billion kWh of electricity can be saved annually, equivalent to more than 1 million tons of standard coal, equivalent to reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 2.75 million tons and sulfur dioxide by 12,000 tons.
(II) Promotion of Energy-Saving Automobiles
China is a major country in automobile production and sales, but the proportion of energy-efficient vehicles sold is low. Among all passenger cars with a displacement of 1.6 liters or below sold in 2009, energy-efficient vehicles accounted for only 7%, making the task of adjusting the automobile product mix and increasing the share of energy-efficient vehicles extremely urgent. From June 2010, the central government has provided consumers who purchase energy-efficient passenger cars with a displacement of 1.6 liters or below with a one-time fixed subsidy of 3,000 yuan per vehicle. After one year of implementation, the policy achieved positive results: first, the market share of energy-efficient vehicles rose substantially, and the pace at which passenger cars are moving toward energy efficiency and downsizing accelerated; second, domestic consumption of energy-efficient vehicles was effectively expanded, and energy conservation and emission reduction effects became evident. Based on the policy's implementation, and in order to further promote progress in automotive energy-saving technology and optimize and upgrade the product mix, from October 1, 2011 the subsidy policy will be adjusted by raising the threshold for subsidized energy-efficient vehicles—reducing the average fuel consumption per 100 kilometers from 6.9 liters to 6.3 liters—while keeping the subsidy standard unchanged. Following the policy adjustment, enterprises accelerated their product-mix adjustment and the promotion catalog continued to expand; the number of energy-efficient vehicles promoted accelerated month by month, rising from fewer than 80,000 vehicles per month at the beginning of the year to about 210,000 vehicles per month at present. To date, the central government has cumulatively allocated subsidy funds of 16.6 billion yuan, supporting the promotion of more than 5.84 million energy-efficient vehicles. #p#分页标题#e#
(III) Promotion of Energy-Saving Industrial Products such as High-Efficiency Motors
China is a major manufacturing country, with industry—particularly heavy and chemical industries—being large in scale. Industrial products such as motors, fans, and water pumps consume large amounts of electricity and have low energy efficiency. Promoting high-efficiency industrial products can save substantial electricity while also helping to upgrade China's overall equipment-manufacturing level. From June 2010, a fiscal subsidy program was introduced to support the promotion of high-efficiency motors, and, taking into account market conditions, comprehensive measures were adopted, including raising subsidy standards, simplifying subsidy procedures, strengthening corporate responsibility, stimulating end-user demand, and increasing publicity efforts. At present, the effects of the policy have become evident, and a trend toward large-scale application of domestic high-efficiency motors has initially taken shape. The number of high-efficiency motor models has grown from 1,061 in the initial promotion period to approximately 20,000 today. High-efficiency motors actually sold and used in various project works have reached more than 15 million kilowatts, and the central government has cumulatively allocated subsidy funds of 543 million yuan. A number of key motor manufacturers have established complete systems for the production, promotion, and sale of high-efficiency motors, and the enthusiasm of a group of key enterprises and key projects for procuring high-efficiency motors has also greatly increased.
To further expand the market share of energy-saving industrial products, in line with the opinions approved and reported to the State Council, last September we decided to bring energy-saving industrial products—namely high-efficiency energy-saving fans, water pumps, compressors, and distribution transformers—within the scope of subsidies for the promotion of energy-saving products. Together with the relevant departments, we conducted detailed studies and careful design, and in November we issued the implementation rules for the promotion of these four categories of products, clarifying the subsidy standards, product types, and promotion models. At present, we have organized expert reviews and identified 1,303 product models from 47 enterprises as having been shortlisted for the first batch of the energy-saving industrial products promotion catalog; we have also pre-allocated subsidy funds of 1.72 billion yuan to local authorities for the promotion and disbursement work in 2013. The competent local departments have likewise completed and publicly released the measures for the promotion of high-efficiency energy-saving industrial products and the disbursement of funds in their respective regions, and the work to promote high-efficiency energy-saving industrial products is being carried out in a comprehensive manner.
Three. Next-Step Work Plan
In the next step, we will continue to firmly and effectively promote energy-saving products, fully leveraging fiscal policies to expand green consumption. First, we will continue to promote energy-saving lamps, LED lights, energy-efficient vehicles and other products, adjusting relevant policy measures in a timely manner based on market changes to expand the promotional effects. Second, we will improve the subsidy methods for energy-saving home appliances, simplify the subsidy payment procedures, and effectively strengthen the supervision of subsidy funds to ensure the safe and efficient use of fiscal subsidies. Third, we will urge relevant departments to accelerate the formulation of related energy efficiency standards, striving to complete the revision of new energy efficiency standards for inverter air conditioners, flat-panel TVs and other products by the end of June 2013. We will transform the current subsidy threshold into an entry threshold, strengthen the forcing mechanism and guiding role of standards, and form an energy-saving home appliance production and consumption system that combines policy subsidies, mandatory standards and market mechanisms. Fourth, we will improve policies for promoting high-efficiency motors, vigorously promote high-efficiency energy-saving fans, water pumps and other industrial products, and strengthen policy implementation. Key energy-saving projects supported by fiscal funds must adopt high-efficiency energy-saving products; for the 10,000 key energy-consuming enterprises under national supervision, they are also required to adopt high-efficiency energy-saving industrial products during their technological transformation; for new projects, in the energy-saving assessment and review, the use of high-efficiency energy-saving products will be an important assessment indicator, truly making the promotion of energy-saving products an important means to promote industrial upgrading and energy conservation.