From 1999 to 200 1, China is in the transition stage to a market economy, and it is urgent to explore new policies and models to promote energy conservation. At this time, the voluntary agreement policy has been practiced in developed countries such as Europe and America for ten years, and its effect has been widely concerned and affirmed by the international energy conservation community. Therefore, under the leadership and support of the Resources Department of the former State Economic and Trade Commission, with the support of the American Energy Foundation's "China Sustainable Energy Project" and the technical support of Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory in the United States, China Energy Conservation Association began to study the basic system of energy conservation laws and regulations in China from June 199 to October 10. In March, 2000, on the basis of cleaning up China's energy-saving regulations and collecting and sorting out foreign energy efficiency policies, we began to explore how to combine foreign successful experience and base on China's national conditions to introduce the policy model of voluntary agreement into China, and chose Jinan Iron and Steel Group Co., Ltd. and Laiwu Iron and Steel Group Co., Ltd., two major enterprises in Shandong iron and steel industry, as pilot enterprises of voluntary agreement policy.

By the end of 2002, the pilot framework of the pilot project will be designed, including related methods of voluntary agreements, such as China voluntary agreement contract sample, enterprise energy-saving potential evaluation method, industry (enterprise) energy-saving target setting method, voluntary agreement supervision and implementation management method, etc. It has been basically completed.

In April 2003, Jinan Iron and Steel Group Corporation and Laiwu Iron and Steel Group Co., Ltd. signed a voluntary agreement with Shandong Economic and Trade Commission. The two enterprises promised to save 1 10,000 tons of standard coal within three years, which was 1.43 million tons more than the original target of the enterprises. At this point, the China voluntary agreement has entered the pilot implementation stage.

Pilot effect

One year after the implementation of the pilot, a mid-term evaluation meeting of the pilot was held in June 2004. At the meeting, Liu, deputy director of the Environmental Protection Department of the National Development and Reform Commission, said: "The voluntary energy-saving agreement project in Shandong Province has achieved initial results, which has accumulated rich and valuable experience for the national voluntary energy-saving agreement work, laying a foundation for further improving and popularizing this work and developing voluntary agreement work in the metallurgical industry and even the whole country." The main energy-saving targets of the two enterprises have reached the targets set in the voluntary agreement, namely, * * * saving 224,000 tons of standard coal, reducing emissions of 4022 tons of sulfur dioxide, and realizing energy-saving benefits of1240,000 tons.

On the one hand, the initial success of the pilot proves that the voluntary agreement on energy conservation is feasible in China; On the other hand, it also reflects that there is still a long way to go for the pilot and promotion of voluntary agreements, and there are still a series of related problems to be solved, such as the index system, the determination of indicators, and government policies. Therefore, we should further improve, summarize and sublimate the pilot work, fully explore various forms of voluntary agreements, speed up the study of policies and measures matching with voluntary agreements on energy conservation, such as information release, tax incentives, etc., formulate the Measures for the Implementation of Voluntary Agreements on Energy Conservation in China as soon as possible, and promote voluntary agreements throughout the country as soon as possible.

Main problems in pilot projects

While fully affirming the effectiveness of the pilot, we should clearly realize that there are still some problems in the pilot.

1. Incentive policy issues. In the pilot, two enterprises were given incentive policies, such as listing, exemption from energy audit, and giving priority to national debt discount. These policies are very effective in the pilot, but to promote voluntary agreements, these policies alone are not enough, and more powerful incentive policies should be studied. The combination of voluntary agreement with sewage charges and EMC is the research direction.

2. Index system. The pilot project has set the 13 index, but some indicators of the enterprise have been achieved, and some have not, so it is impossible to define whether the overall energy-saving goal of the enterprise has been achieved. Therefore, in future voluntary agreement projects, the setting of indicators should be simple and not complicated.

3. Effect evaluation of voluntary agreement. In the pilot process, how to evaluate the energy-saving effect brought by voluntary agreement, that is, how to separate the energy-saving amount or benefit from the overall energy-saving benefit of the enterprise and make more accurate calculation or estimation, is still a big problem. To solve this problem, on the one hand, we need to study how to gradually establish a scientific and reasonable voluntary agreement index database, voluntary agreement related reporting system and voluntary agreement supervision and management system in enterprises; On the other hand, we need to strengthen international exchanges and cooperation and introduce advanced evaluation methods.

4. Explore various forms of voluntary agreements. In the Shandong pilot project, there are two participants, the government and enterprises. In the future, we should explore various forms of voluntary agreements, such as third-party participation or unilateral sponsorship by enterprises.

5. Standardization of voluntary agreements. Although there are various forms of voluntary agreements, there are still some basic elements. If these elements are not available, it cannot be called a voluntary agreement. Therefore, it is necessary to write a systematic manual with the nature of a guide to ensure the standardized implementation of voluntary agreements.

6. We should vigorously carry out the publicity and promotion of voluntary agreements on energy conservation, and raise the awareness of voluntary agreements on energy conservation in the whole society.

2. Recent progress in promoting voluntary agreements

Driven by the pilot project in Shandong, 15 enterprises in Qingdao have signed voluntary agreements on energy conservation with the Municipal Economic Commission. China Iron and Steel Industry Association has also studied the possibility of establishing voluntary energy agreements in the steel industry. Voluntary agreements are also being studied and implemented from different aspects, such as the "voluntary emission reduction activities of enterprises" of the World Wide Fund for Nature and the "energy saving and greenhouse gas emission reduction project of Chinese township enterprises" of the Global Environment Facility in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture.

At present, with the active promotion of the government and the efforts of all parties, the voluntary energy-saving agreement in China is developing faster and faster: at the end of 2004, the National Development and Reform Commission listed the voluntary energy-saving agreement as one of the new energy-saving mechanisms implemented by the government in the medium and long-term special plan for energy conservation; In June last year, the National Development and Reform Commission /UNDP*** jointly launched the "China Terminal Energy Efficiency Project", which also took the implementation of voluntary agreements in the steel, chemical and cement industries as an important content; At the same time, provinces and cities are also actively preparing for the trial of voluntary agreements.

Generally speaking, voluntary agreements can enhance the sense of social responsibility and core competitiveness of enterprises. It is conducive to the separation of government from enterprise, and to the government and enterprises finding their respective positions under the new situation. Voluntary agreement can provide greater initiative and flexibility for enterprises to achieve energy and environmental goals, and improve their awareness of energy conservation and environmental protection. It is a bridge between the government and enterprises. Compared with traditional administrative means, it can better meet the requirements of building a socialist market economy and its cost is lower.

In the long run, voluntary agreement is not only an effective way for the government to manage key energy-using units and thousands of enterprises under the condition of changing functions, but also a way for enterprises to promote energy-saving management and technological progress, or a way to implement scientific development and promote the development of high-energy-consuming industries.