China has leaped ahead of the United States as the world’s largest energy consumer, marking yet another tectonic shift in the global economic order.
Already this year, China has sped past the United States as the largest auto market on the planet and moved ahead of Germany as the world’s No. 1 exporter. Now, driven by a seemingly endless series of major infrastructure projects as well as rising demand from its fast-growing consumer class, China’s energy consumption is outstripping the U.S., according to the International Energy Agency.
China last year consumed 2.252 billion tonnes of oil equivalent of energy from sources including coal, oil, natural gas, hyrdro and nuclear power, about 4 per cent more than the United States, the IEA said told the paper. The U.S. had held the title of the world’s biggest energy user since the early 1900s.
Ascendance to the top spot underscores the rising influence of the world’s fastest growing major economy and the reordering of international power following the global financial crisis. China’s oil-equivalent consumption, which includes crude oil, nuclear, coal, natural gas and hydropower, was just half the size of the U.S. 10 years ago.
“It shows the importance of the Chinese economy and it is being better reflected in consumption of energy, raw materials and the trade flows rather than the nominal GDP data” said Na Liu, founder of CNC Asset Management Ltd., a Toronto-based investment firm focused on Chinese equity markets and global raw materials.
Weak economic growth in the U.S. coupled with more stringent energy efficiency programs has crimped the intensity of U.S. energy demands. At the same time, the energy needs of China’s economy, which expanded by 10.3 per cent in the second quarter, have soared due to rapid urbanization and improving living standards for its 1.3-billion citizens.
