istrative functions and enterprises' management have been separated, so has power production from power transmission, and supervisory organizations have also been established. In the oil and gas industry, the upstream and downstream sectors have been integrated, so have the domestic and international trades. Energy pricing reform has been constantly deepened, and the pricing mechanism has been improved continuously.
Along with China's rapid economic development and the acceleration of industrialization and urbanization, the demand for energy keeps increasing, and the construction of a stable, economical, clean and safe energy supply system faces the following challenges:
— Prominent resources restraint and low energy efficiency. China's relative dearth of high-quality energy resources hinders its supply capability; its imbalanced distribution makes it difficult to secure a continued and steady supply; and the extensive pattern of economic growth, irrational energy structure, unsatisfactory energy technology and relatively poor management have resulted in higher energy consumption per-unit GDP and for the major energy-consuming products than the average level of major energy-consuming countries, thus further intensifying the energy supply-demand contradiction. Consequently, an increase solely in supply is hard to meet the rising demand for energy.
— Increasing environmental pressure caused by the consumption of energy, mostly coal. Coal is the main energy consumed in China, and the energy structure with coal playing the main role will remain unchanged for a long time to come. The relatively backward methods of coal production and consumption have intensified the pressure on environmental protection. Coal consumption has been the main cause of smoke pollution in China, as well as the main source of greenhouse gas. As the number of motor vehicles climbs, the air pollution in some cities is becoming a mixture of coal smoke and exhaust gas. If this situation continues, the ecological environment will face even greater pressure.
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