ABSTRACT
China was the first country to ever develop its own Agenda 21 and to reduce it to a local level, subsequently giving birth to national and local programmes to render Chinese cities cleaner and more resource saving. China's energy security clearly has a local face and is called upon to cope with the pressing needs of combating energy shortage episodes as well as unbearable air pollution. In view of future population movements, the Chinese government acknowledges the need to switch to a more balanced urbanisation process through facing the increasing societal disparities and environmental degradation produced by two decades of blind pursuit of economic growth by local governments. The realisation of energy transition inherently includes a significant restructuration of the decision-making system on energy choices, shifting production and management from the hands of few centralised and oligopolistic players to the responsibility of cities or smaller agglomerations.
