China faces dire energy challenges, says energy official

Wang Yumin vows green growth, as Russia and Canada outline plans to meet global needs

China faces “dire” energy challenges  as it tries to lift millions of its people out of poverty and support the aspirations of a burgeoning middle class, a senior Chinese energy official told delegates to WEC 2013. Delivering a speech to the keynote session, The Energy Trilemma: Policy Solutions to Secure Prosperity,  together with Russian energy minister Alexander Novak and Joe Oliver, the Canadian minister for natural resources, Wang Yumin, the vice-administrator of China’s National Energy Administration, said China’s energy needs grew by 5.8% per year as the economy grew by 10% per year. “China’s challenges are dire,” Wang said. “There are new sources of demand because China wants to buil