China needs to formulate "low-carbon fuel standards and policies" suited to its national conditions.

The Ministry of Finance and other ministries recently jointly issued the "Notice on Launching Pilot Subsidies for Private Purchases of New Energy Vehicles," setting up pilot programs in five cities: Shanghai, Changchun, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, and Hefei. According to the spirit of the notice, plug-in hybrid vehicles and pure electric vehicles can receive subsidies. This means that the "hitting the road" of new energy vehicles is not far off. At the same time, the debate over whether pure electric vehicles are "low-carbon" has also become one of the hottest topics in this round of new energy vehicle discussions.
The reason is that although pure electric vehicles are almost zero in emissions and zero pollution during operation, the current electricity supply structure in China is unbalanced. By the end of 2009, China's total thermal power installed capacity accounted for 74.6% of the country's total installed power generation capacity, while clean energy power generation such as hydropower and nuclear power accounted for only 25.4%. Therefore, many industry insiders believe that if electric vehicles mainly come from thermal power, they will not achieve emission reduction. Miao Wei, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, recently admitted: "Whether China's current power generation methods can promote emission reductions for new energy vehicles remains unsettled."  

Kang Liping, Low-Carbon Transport Program Officer at the Energy and Transport Innovation Center, further explained: "'Electricity' has been introduced into automotive energy systems as a new type of fuel. Whether it is lower carbon compared to traditional gasoline and diesel cannot be considered solely from vehicle emissions, but should be considered comprehensively from the perspective of the fuel lifecycle." Among these, the raw materials for power generation, technology, transmission distance, and charging mode all affect the carbon intensity of 'electric fuels.' Even though electric vehicles are almost zero-emission and zero-pollution while driving, the emission reduction effects of electric vehicles vary across both upstream production and downstream applications. Therefore, 'electricity' as a vehicle fuel cannot be simply classified as a low-carbon fuel. "However, electric vehicles convert greenhouse gas emissions from mobile sources into fixed sources. With the future application of greenhouse gas capture technologies, increased renewable electricity proportions, and the continuous maturation of electric vehicle technology and application models, emissions will continue to decrease.  

Low-carbon fuels generally refer to energy sources with lower carbon intensity (or greenhouse gas emission intensity) per unit of energy compared to traditional fossil fuels (such as diesel, gasoline, and jet fuel), and this comparison is based on fuel life cycle assessment. In other words, the carbon intensity of fuel should be calculated starting from the acquisition of energy raw materials, including extraction (planting), production, transportation, and finally the combustion of the automobile engine. The greenhouse gas emissions throughout the process should be included in the fuel carbon scale, not just the combustion emissions of the automobile engine. Moreover, greenhouse gas emissions can vary significantly due to changes in any of these links, and the carbon intensity of the same fuel can be reduced through process improvements and technological innovation. According to domestic and international research findings, waste oil biodiesel, cellulose ethanol, and renewable electricity have lower carbon intensity and emission reduction potential, and are considered low-carbon fuels.  

Two draft national standards for "low-carbon fuel" are expected to be approved before August

So, how should China achieve low-carbon transportation fuels? Dr. Chen Liang from the Institute of Resource and Environmental Standardization at the China National Institute of Standardization pointed out: "To understand the situation and conduct a lifecycle greenhouse gas emission assessment of transportation fuels, one must first have a set of standard evaluation methodologies." "It is reported that two national standards for 'low-carbon fuels' were jointly researched and drafted by seven organizations, including the China National Institute of Standardization, the Energy and Transportation Innovation Center, and COFCO Group.  

Among them, the "Principles and Requirements for Evaluating Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the Life Cycle of Transportation Fuels" has been widely solicited and is currently under broad comments; The "Reporting and Review of Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the Life Cycle of Transportation Fuels" is currently in the drafting stage of the standard and is expected to be completed for public consultation in early July. Two draft national standards for "low-carbon fuels" are planned to be submitted to the National Standardization Committee for approval before August. These two national standards not only help enterprises evaluate greenhouse gas emissions over the lifecycle of transportation fuels, but also assist decision-making departments at all levels in formulating relevant policies and regulations based on the evaluation results.  

A relevant official from the National Development and Reform Commission stated that research on low-carbon fuels has made valuable quantitative explorations on how to reduce carbon emissions and proposed ideas. At the same time, scientific methods can be used to assess current hot topics. Just because the developed product is low-carbon doesn't mean the entire industry chain is low-carbon.  

Promoting the development of "low-carbon fuels" based on China's energy situation 

The transportation industry is one of the largest energy consumers. Its total oil consumption accounts for more than 30% of the total societal oil consumption, and this proportion continues to increase year by year. At the same time, the transportation industry is also a major source of carbon emissions. As the number of vehicles in China continues to grow, the future demand for fuels in the transportation industry will grow. Traditional fossil fuels, electricity, coal-based synthetic oil, fuel ethanol, biodiesel, and other fuels will inevitably coexist in the market. Therefore, in the face of the international commitment to "reduce emissions per unit of GDP by 40%–45% by 2020," accelerating the formulation of low-carbon fuel standards and policies and encouraging research and development of low-carbon fuels has become increasingly important.  

It is understood that the concept of low-carbon fuels has reached consensus in many countries around the world. To support the development of low-carbon fuels, some countries and regions have formulated relevant standards and preferential policies to encourage the development of low-carbon fuels, setting targets. For example, the UK's Renewable Fuels Regulation (RTFO) was the first to require that all fossil fuels sold meet certain biofuel allocation requirements, and that biofuels sold must be reported on lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions and sustainability standards. The California Low Carbon Fuel Standard Policy (CA—LCFS) aims to reduce the carbon intensity of fuel supply, encouraging the development of "low-carbon fuels" such as electrified fuels, biofuels, and hydrogen fuels.  

Because the average carbon intensity of fuel is closely related to fuel type and source, fuel production technology, fuel structure, and other factors, and some alternative energy technologies from other countries may not necessarily be widely adopted in China, and domestic technical standards for alternative fuels are not yet unified, China cannot directly imitate foreign low-carbon fuel development models and needs to formulate "low-carbon fuel standards and policies" suited to national conditions. Currently, the "Low-Carbon Fuel Standards and Policies" project mainly analyzes five major sample fuel chains: Guangxi cassava ethanol, Heilongjiang corn ethanol, Xiamen waste oil biodiesel, Shanxi coal-based methanol, and Inner Mongolia coal direct liquefied oil, with relevant progress achieved.  

Relevant personnel from the National Development and Reform Commission suggest that fuel life cycle assessments and the implementation of low-carbon fuel projects should be more closely aligned with the needs of enterprises and the market. At the same time, all parties should accelerate the research process to quickly realize the results.