Research on Improvement of China’s Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction Legal System under the Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality Background

Abstract

Improving the energy conservation system and the energy substitution system, and accelerating the construction of an energy conservation and emission reduction system, are reliable legal guarantees to promote the modernization of energy rule of law and to expedite the achievement of the “dual carbon” goals. At present, China has preliminarily established an energy conservation and emission reduction system consisting of two subsystems of energy conservation and energy substitution, which are further divided into three categories: regulatory control systems, public incentive systems, and market regulation systems. These cover pollution control, scientific and technological innovation support, industry incentives, and many other aspects. However, in alignment with the strategic layout for achieving the “dual carbon” goals, China's energy conservation and emission reduction legal system still faces prominent issues, such as the lack of explicit normative guarantees for energy-saving and low-carbon innovation measures, the weak operability of legal provisions, the absence of liability clauses, and low cost of illegal activities. Oriented towards reducing pollution, cutting carbon emissions, pursuing green development, and boosting economic growth, China's energy conservation and emission reduction legal system can be improved by perfecting the system design of "energy-saving + carbon-saving", refining legal provisions to enhance operability, and strengthening the implementation of legal liabilities.