Review on the development of China's natural gas industry in the background of “carbon neutrality"

Abstract

At the 75th UN General Assembly, the Chinese government declared to strive to reach peak carbon dioxide emission by 2030 and achieve “carbon neutrality” by 2060. The establishment of this goal not only brings opportunities but also challenges to the development of China's natural gas industry. In order to comprehensively understand the whole chain of China's natural gas industry under the goal of “carbon peak and carbon neutrality”, this paper sorts out the recent related research results and discusses the development prospect of China's natural gas industry in the background of “carbon neutrality”. And the following research results are obtained. First, compared with other low-carbon or carbon-free energies, the foundation for the large-scale stable supply of natural gas in China is the most solid, so natural gas is the most practical option to replace coal and realize “low carbon”. Second, in the process of “carbon neutrality”, natural gas will play an important role in different stages. Finally, several suggestions are proposed to promote the development of China's natural gas industry. First, it is necessary to further strengthen the construction of natural gas infrastructure, especially the construction of emergency peak shaving capacity. Second, market-oriented pipe capacity distribution and two-part pricing will be the reform direction of the operation mode of natural gas pipeline network, but they shall be promoted gradually and appropriately according to the development degree of China's natural gas industry. Third, under the goal of “carbon neutrality”, much attention shall be paid to the development of natural gas fired power generation, especially the development of peak-shaving gas power. Fourth, it is necessary to sufficiently grasp the opportunity period and window period of industry development and strengthen cooperation among upstream, middle and downstream to jointly promote the healthy development of China's natural gas industry.