It's getting hot: is China facing an energy crisis In Europe, talk of an energy crisis does not subside, but China

Air conditioners in central China are running at full capacity this year. Nearly 900 million Chinese have experienced record temperatures in recent weeks, and more than 80 cities have declared heat waves. Due to the high demand for electricity in Zhejiang province - an important manufacturing center in the east of the Middle Kingdom - some factories were forced to cut off electricity supply. At the same time, on July 13, thermometers in the region showed about 42 ° C. And if you take into account the humidity of the province, then on the street the temperature was sometimes felt at 54 ° C.

The Chinese authorities are unwittingly fearful of a repeat of last year's energy crisis due to the heat wave. As electricity suppliers struggled to keep up, many factories were forced to close and some homes lost power. The country's leadership promised that this time there would be no crisis. But the turmoil in global energy markets since the start of Russia's special operation in Ukraine casts doubt on that claim. And this despite the fact that the Chinese government itself has very ambitious goals to reduce emissions of harmful substances into the atmosphere.

Events both this year and last year expose the contradictions between the pursuit of clean and safe energy and vigorous economic activity. Chinese leaders have tried, with varying degrees of severity, to take regulatory action in the energy sector. This experience may be instructive for other countries that will consider market manipulation to deal with rising commodity prices.