Growing energy saving sector helps cut emissions, adds jobs

China saw notable growth in both the number of companies and employees dedicated to energy conservation in 2024, an expansion that is contributing significantly to reducing the country's carbon emissions, according to a report released on Thursday.

Based on incomplete statistics, the number of newly registered energy conservation service enterprises nationwide reached 2,388 in 2024, up 17.3 percent year-on-year, according to a China Energy Conservation Association report. The hike brought the total number of registered energy conservation service providers to 16,189.

From the onset of the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) period, China's total employed population has seen a gradual contraction, falling from about 762.5 million to around 734.4 million, the report said. In stark contrast, employment within the energy conservation service industry experienced a significant surge, rising from 652,000 in 2016 to over 1 million by 2024, with an average annual growth rate of 4.8 percent. According to the report, this shift has not only eased employment pressure in traditional industries but has also optimized the employment structure by increasing the proportion of green jobs.

It also noted a slight growth in the industry's total output value in 2024. After a year-on-year increase of 1.5 percent, total output value reached about 528 billion yuan ($75.4 billion).

However, it highlighted a sharp rebound in business activity beginning in the fourth quarter of 2024. Citing invoice data from the State Taxation Administration, the report outlined how revenue from energy-saving technology promotion services rose 26.8 percent year-on-year between October 2024 and February 2025.

Despite significant fluctuations since 2016, the industry's total output value has shown a gradual recovery over the past two years, signaling what the report described as "a stable and positive trend".

The report underscored the sector's major contribution to carbon emission reductions. In 2024, new investment in energy performance contracting — a financing technique that uses cost savings from reduced energy consumption to repay service providers' cost of installing energy conservation measures — projects alone saved nearly 45.4 million metric tons of standard coal, equivalent to cutting carbon dioxide emissions by almost 111.7 million tons.

If the same energy savings were achieved through photovoltaic power generation, the report said, it would require installing about 12 billion square meters of solar panels, covering nearly 1.7 million standard soccer fields.

The cost of doing so would be at least twice that of energy efficiency measures, the report said, in addition to constraints related to land availability and grid integration capacity.

Sun Ying, deputy director of the energy research institute at the Chinese Academy of Macroeconomic Research, said energy conservation and efficiency improvement measures accounted for 68 percent of China's carbon dioxide emission reductions between 2015 and 2023.

"We must steadfastly adhere to the principle of prioritizing conservation and carry out energy-saving efforts at higher levels and with higher quality to achieve maximum benefits at minimal costs," Sun said.