First time included in the government work report, the future of "Future Energy" has arrived

21st Century Business Herald Reporter Fei Xinyi

“Future Energy” is gaining popularity.

On the morning of March 5th, the Fourth Session of the 14th National People’s Congress opened at the Great Hall of the People, where Premier Li Qiang delivered the government work report. The report proposed cultivating and expanding emerging and future industries, including future energy, quantum technology, embodied intelligence, brain-computer interfaces, 6G, and other future sectors.

What is “future energy,” which was included in the government work report for the first time? What role does it play in China’s new energy system development?

Not a New Term

In fact, “future energy” is not a new term; it is a systematic concept composed of various new energy sources. Moreover, it has been mentioned in recent policy and industry documents.

In January 2024, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and six other departments issued the “Implementation Opinions on Promoting Innovation and Development of Future Industries” (hereinafter referred to as “Implementation Opinions”). It states that future industries are driven by cutting-edge technologies, currently in the incubation or early industrialization stage, and are forward-looking emerging industries with significant strategic, leading, disruptive, and uncertain characteristics. Developing future industries vigorously is a strategic choice to lead technological progress, drive industrial upgrading, and cultivate new productive forces.

Among them, the “Implementation Opinions” regard future energy as one of the future industries, alongside future manufacturing, future information, future materials, future space, and future health.

The 21st Century Business Herald notes that the “Implementation Opinions” emphasize that the development of future energy should focus on key areas such as nuclear energy, nuclear fusion, hydrogen energy, and biomass energy, aiming to build a comprehensive “collection-storage-transport-application” chain of future energy equipment. This includes developing new high-efficiency solar cells like crystalline silicon and thin-film solar cells, accelerating the development of new energy storage solutions, and promoting the integration and upgrading of energy electronics industries.

This means that the connotation of future energy includes frontier technologies and innovative integration scenarios in renewable energy fields like photovoltaics and energy storage, as well as new energy routes such as nuclear fusion and hydrogen energy, leading to more efficient, autonomous, and controllable energy utilization and system upgrades.

Furthermore, on October 28, 2025, Xinhua News Agency authorized the release of the “Proposal of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Formulating the 14th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development,” which provides new guidance for China’s social and economic development over the next five years.

It mentions that exploring multiple technological routes, typical application scenarios, feasible business models, and market regulation rules for future industries is part of the forward-looking layout. It also highlights quantum technology, biomanufacturing, hydrogen and nuclear fusion energy, brain-computer interfaces, embodied intelligence, and the sixth-generation mobile communication as new growth points. Hydrogen energy and nuclear fusion energy are mentioned again.

The Future Development of “Future Energy”

Developing future energy has profound strategic significance. The 21st Century Business Herald notes that during this year’s two sessions, discussions about “future energy” have been continuously emerging.

Xin Feng, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, deputy general manager of China Nuclear Group, focused on nuclear energy. He stated that the vigorous development of international nuclear energy provides new opportunities for China’s “going global” strategy. He suggested strengthening top-level planning for nuclear energy’s international expansion, accelerating the introduction of specialized financing and insurance policies for nuclear exports, and enhancing China’s overall competitiveness in nuclear power exports.

Duan Xuru, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and chief scientist in the fusion field at China Nuclear Group, introduced China’s progress in controlled nuclear fusion commercial development at the two sessions.

Duan Xuru said that by around 2050, China is expected to achieve commercialized controlled nuclear fusion power generation. Before that, fusion burn experiments need to be conducted, starting around 2027. By around 2030, China should have the capability to develop and build its first engineering experimental reactor, and by around 2035, complete the first engineering experimental reactor. Around 2045, China aims to build its first commercial demonstration reactor. “Currently, AI technology has preliminarily verified plasma operation monitoring and instability prediction, which is expected to solve plasma control difficulties and has significant potential in the development and operation of fusion reactor systems.”

Ma Yongsheng, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, offered three suggestions regarding the systemic obstacles China faces in scaling up its hydrogen energy industry, aiming to promote integrated development of the hydrogen industry chain and achieve rapid, high-quality scaling. These include strengthening top-level design to build a national hydrogen infrastructure network, deepening electric-hydrogen coupling with priority on ensuring surplus electricity grid connection, and promoting deep integration of technological and industrial innovation.

Additionally, high-quality development of biomass energy has been a hot topic among delegates and members during this session. Wang Qing, a deputy of the National People’s Congress, skilled master at China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation, and operator of the catalytic (coal, diesel) oil hydrogenation unit at Cangzhou branch, believes that developing biomass energy can improve energy self-sufficiency, handle organic waste, improve the environment, and support rural revitalization. China has abundant biomass resources, with an annual output exceeding 3.5 billion tons, offering huge potential for energy utilization. However, the industry still faces bottlenecks such as raw material collection difficulties, weak industry chain coordination, and key technological breakthroughs.

In response, Wang Qing suggested strengthening top-level design and policy support, optimizing the industrial development environment, establishing a raw material guarantee system, consolidating the foundation for industry development, increasing technological research and成果转化, and expanding diverse application scenarios to cultivate market demand and promote industrial scaling.

Hanfeng, director and party secretary of Qingdao Petrochemical Co., Ltd., also proposed building a standardized raw material collection system led by enterprises and establishing a full-chain supervision mechanism covering “production—collection—transport—storage—utilization,” including incorporating waste oil and agricultural and forestry waste collection into relevant indicators.

From policy guidance to the phased layout in the “14th Five-Year Plan,” the concept of future energy has evolved from industry development to a core national strategy.