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  In December 2019, the Netherlands adopted the law to phase out coal power by 2030, which is part of the Dutch strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 49 per cent by 2030.

  Under the law, the Maasvlakte 3 coal power plant near Rotterdam must be shut down by 2030 or other non-coal alternative fuels will be used.

  The power plant is invested by Uniper, a German energy company, which has just been put into operation in 2016, with a design life of 40 years, that is, the actual operation will be shut down for 15 years.

  Maasvlakte 3 is one of the three new coal power plants in the Netherlands that have been in trouble due to climate and energy policy changes. The construction of these coal power plants was promoted by previous governments to reduce the dependence on natural gas.

  Uniper is seeking a billion euros of compensation under the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), signed in the 1990s to promote investment flows between the West and the former Soviet Union and Eastern European countries, with an ECT arbitration system to prevent the government from seizing private assets.

  Uniper argued that changes in Dutch policy halved the value of its coal plants, which would be equivalent to the confiscation of assets.

  Uniper wrote to the government on December 18 last year seeking "a friendly settlement" and, if no agreement was reached, it would be referred to arbitration.

  The Dutch government dismissed Uniper's claim for procedural reasons, believing that Uniper was headquartered in Germany and that etc could not be used to resolve disputes within the EU.

  Eric weibs, Minister of economy and climate, said the 10-year transition period of closure was enough to compensate.

  Recently, Rhine group, Germany's largest power producer, filed a lawsuit against the Dutch government for violating the Energy Charter, demanding the Dutch government to compensate for the possible losses it may suffer due to "elimination of coal power by 2030", with an amount of about 1.4 billion euros.

  Rhine said the Dutch government supported the investment in coal and electricity projects when it planned to invest in the construction of the plant. Now, the Dutch government's request to shut down the coal power facilities by 2030 is illegal and should be compensated to the enterprise.

  The two sessions discussed that the energy industry press the "accelerating key" of carbon reduction

  "Carbon peak" and "carbon neutralization" are undoubtedly the biggest hot spots in the two sessions of the country this year.

  The government work report listed "doing well in carbon peak and carbon neutralization" as one of the key tasks in 2021; the 14th five year plan will also accelerate the promotion of green and low-carbon development in it; there are also many proposals and proposals on "carbon reaching peak" and "carbon neutralization" submitted on behalf of the committee members.

  Members of the CPPCC, interviewed by the economic times of China, agreed that accelerating the overall green transformation, achieving the goals of "reaching peak carbon" and "carbon neutralization" and making green the most distinctive background is an important follow of high-quality development in China during the 14th five-year plan and even longer period.

  In recent years, the consumption of coal in China has been decreasing year by year. According to the Ministry of ecological environment, China's coal consumption proportion of primary energy has been declining.

  From 2017 to 2020, the proportion of coal consumption in primary energy consumption in China decreased from 60.4% to about 57%, while the proportion of non-fossil energy consumption increased from 13.8% to 15.8%.

  Zhang Jianhua, director of the state energy administration, said recently that the proportion of non-fossil energy consumption will increase from 15.8% by the end of 2020 to about 25% in 2030, which means that the next energy increase is more than 70% of non-fossil energy.

  Songxin, member of the CPPCC, Secretary of the Party committee and chairman of China energy conservation and Environmental Protection Group Co., Ltd., believes that the emerging energy saving service field is accelerating the transformation to digital, electrified and clean, and comprehensive energy will become an inevitable development trend with trillion market potential.

  China Investment Association predicts that zero carbon China will generate seven investment fields, namely, renewable resource utilization, energy efficiency improvement, end consumption electrification, zero carbon power generation technology, energy storage, hydrogen energy and digital, and will drive 70 trillion yuan of green industry investment opportunities. By 2050, the market size of these seven major areas will reach nearly 15 trillion yuan in the same year, and contribute 80% of the total emission reduction to China's zero carbon emission.

• [Editor:Catherine Ren]