China to supervise renewable energy regulation implementation

China's top legislature on Wednesday established an inspection team to oversee the implementation of the Law on Renewable Energy. The team consists of three groups that will be sent to north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, east China's Jiangsu Province and northwest China's Gansu Province, respectively, in June, according to a statement from the Standing Committee of the 12th National People's Congress (NPC). The creation of the team is intended to spur healthy growth in the renewable energy sector through complementary related laws and policies. Chen Changzhi, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the NPC, said at a Wednesday launch meeting that assessing the implementation is an important way for the committee to exercise supervision. The Law on Renewable Energy, which was adopted by the Standing Committee of the 10th NPC in February 2005, was revised by the Standing Committee of the 11th NPC in December 2009. The team will assess the law's implementation and discover factors that are affecting the development of the renewable energy sector. China has been boosting the use of renewable energy due to growing energy demand. In 2012, China consumed 3.62 billion tonnes of standard coal equivalent, up 3.9 percent year on year, official data showed. A report released by the China National Petroleum Corporation indicated that China's dependence rates for imports of crude oil and natural gas stand at 56.6 percent and 29 percent, respectively. Shen Yueyue and Zhang Ping, vice chairpersons of the Standing Committee of the NPC, also attended Wednesday's launch meeting.