LONDON(INP):The Chinese economy is slowing down but still growing, and in a short period of time China has taken gigantic steps in terms of clean energy, the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Executive Director Fatih Birol has said in an interview with Chinese state news agency.
The Chinese economy is “moving from a heavy industry-based economy, slowly but surely to a lighter economy, a modern economy, and this is also reflected in the Chinese energy portfolio very much. So it is normal that economic growth is slowing down and is still a very strong growth.
But the important thing to remember here that there is the global tendency of becoming lighter rather than heavier,” Birol said during the World Economic Forum (WEF) in the Swiss ski resort of Davos.
He also noticed that Chinese energy demand growth will also slow down. “It is a reflection of the Chinese oil needs. For example, more and more oil products such as gasoline are used, like they use in cars, and more jet fuel is used, like they use in planes. But less heavy oil, diesel is used,” he said.
“It is a mirror of the Chinese economy. The heavy fuels are less used and the lighter fuel such as gasoline and jet fuel are more used … Generally, the Chinese economy is going in the right direction by making more use of renewable energy and also making more use of nuclear energy and is becoming more energy efficient,” he said.
Birol spoke highly of China’s energy reform. “The Chinese reforms in the energy sector are all in the right direction,” he said, adding that China is improving the efficiency of the sector.
He said that China is making maximum use of its hydropower, wind and solar resources, and has now become an exporter of renewable energy technologies. China is also making major efforts in terms of nuclear power. Today almost half of the nuclear power plants built in the world are in China.
Soon, Birol said, he would be traveling to China to attend a ministerial meeting on clean energy. “At the IEA, we work very closely with the Chinese government,” the IEA head said.
As China has taken big leaps in terms of clean energy in only a short period of time, “we have been, and we are supporting the Chinese government in those steps, and also making the world understand the major achievements of China,” Birol said.
